Project Echo- PART 1
by PretendThisIsWitty
Summary: 8 months after the events of "Captain America: Winter Soldier", an unstable and erratic Bucky enlists the help of the Avengers to find and liberate a young girl with unknown powers held captive and tortured into submission by Hydra. Meanwhile, a creature begins attacking from the shadows, nearly killing Steve, the result of a mysterious 20 year old Hydra research project.
1. Prologue

**Prologue **

She left the library and precisely 9pm, closing time. On the front steps she pulled her arms into her thin sweater and shivered in the howling winter winds. A new moon was somewhere up there in the dark sky, but no worries. She knew the route home well enough, even in the dark.

A low growl seemed to come from behind her as she darted down the steps and around the library to the narrow alley on its southeast side. She hesitated, nervous, but a moment later an old car drove by on the road with its engine grumbling and rattling in protest of the cold. She smiled and continued to the alley. For several blocks she ran down it- cutting across deserted streets and dodging piles of trash as the neighborhoods grew rougher and darker. The wind whipped away her body heat, adding urgency to her jog.

She went to the library because there was no heat at home, but this time she'd stayed too long. The air was sub-zero, and already her exposed skin was growing numb. Her nose and lungs burned, the thin arms wrapped around her torso held in no heat, and her teeth chattered violently and audibly, regardless of her efforts to stop them. Still, home wasn't too much further. Yes, she had to go to an even worse neighborhood yet, and yes it as likely just as cold in the condemned apartment building they squatted in, but at least it was out of the wind.

This neighborhood was full of thugs and creeps, though on a night like this she didn't expect to see any. Still, as she crossed to a narrow street on her right she couldn't ignore the tingle on the back of her neck that had nothing to do with impending frostbite. Her shoes _crunched_ on the thin layer of snow and ice covering everything, but every so often she'd hear a _crack_, two steps in the snow slightly out of sync. She glanced behind her- nothing, and no footprints besides her own extended back from where she'd come.

She began walking again but this time changed her pace at random- faster, slower, faster, normal, faster- _there!_ A step totally out of sync with hers! Again she turned, her fight-or-flight instincts were kicking in. Again there was nothing.

It wasn't that she couldn't hold her own in a fight- she was a poor kid from the slums, of course she knew some moves. She was just too cold. She couldn't focus, couldn't keep her thoughts from jumping all over the damn place, and certainly couldn't throw a decent punch when her shoulders were numb. A fight in this condition would end with her bloody in the gutter- or worse.

"I know you're there!" she shouted to the night, "It's only fair to warn you- back off or I'll-" she thought she heard a soft _click_ nearby, but before she could so much as pinpoint the direction of the noise a wave of pressure slammed into her. Her muscles locked, then began to spasm violently. She managed a strangled scream as she collapsed in the sow. After that noise she was lucky to even manage small gasps of breath. Her eyes were locked open through it all and while her body burned with pain, a small part of her mind tried to save her, to find some way out of this. Was it a tazer? She felt something itching, crawling at her ear. It dripped into the snow as she shook and convulsed- blood. Tazers didn't usually make you bleed out your ears.

Someone came towards her with slow, measured steps. No more hiding. She wanted to curse him, strike out, hurt him- anything! For all her brave intentions she could still hardly breathe, let alone move. A hand entered her field of vision, then an arm. She couldn't look up to see his face, but she did see the syringe in his left hand. Surprisingly, she also felt it in her neck through the pain. As the world fell out of focus and went black she noticed something strange. Irrationally, her mind focused on that over the pain or whatever these people might be drugging her _for_.

The man's left hand- was it made of metal?


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: 7 Years Later; Gastineau Channel, Juneau, Alaska**

It was a clear night- very rare for the area. The stars above twinkled in between ribbons of red auroras that snaked from horizon to horizon and cast an eerie glow over the world. To the left the small, simple city of Juneau lay nestled between the ocean and glacier fields. On the right was Douglas Island, home to the city's ski slopes. Barely visible down the channel were mountainous island where tourists flocked to whale-watch or catch fresh fish for their evening meal.

Standing on the bridge, looking out over the sleepy bay with the Northern Lights bright above them, Steve Rogers and his close friend Sam Wilson took in the sight without anything resembling an appreciative eye. They were downright grumpy.

"We can't go in by air, not with these lights. I'll be spotted before you're in range. And before you ask- no. I _can't_ swim with the wings on it'll fry the circuits and take any kind of quick escape off the table. Plus it's Alaska- that summer high of 75 degrees doesn't warm the water up any. Look, let's just give it another day or two- intercept the barge at another stop, ok? Get the new moon, the solar activity will die down, and we'll have better cover. It's a rainforest- clear skies are rare. We don't have to rush it and do the job tonight."

"We've been through this already!" Steve snapped. He immediately held up a hand and rubbed his eyes, "I know, I know. I'm sorry." They'd been running on minimum sleep and hard travels for months. Fights were becoming all too common. He took a deep breath and tried again, "We need the new moon for the raid on the safe-house in San Francisco. If this doesn't happen _tonight_ we lose our window there for another month. Just fly low and dump me near the ship, the lower you fly the more the ocean will camouflage you. I'll subdue the base and you come back when the screaming stops.

They were discussing an old barge that ran wares to the coastal cities once each week. According to the KGB file Natasha gave them on the Winter Soldier, ten of those containers were special-order and formed a Hydra medical treatment facility. Skeleton crew of three, four maximum. It was a small target, but the chances weren't negligible they'd have a more up-to-date file on Bucky than the KGB one. This base was pure Hydra- kept running continuously for thirty years now. Most of the locations in the KGB file were shut down when the USSR collapsed.

Sam merely sighed and double-checked the straps on his wing unit, "You really think he went back to Hydra?"

Steve wasn't sure 'thought' was the driving force. More like 'hope'. For eight months now they'd been chasing a ghost story. They followed every lead to every base, house, and bank vault Bucky was in between 1964 and 1990 when Hydra severed ties with the KGB and claimed ownership over the Winter Soldier- and that was only _half_ the picture. The KGB handled the science side of things while Hydra controlled the missions, so without a _Hydra_ file there was no way to know what other places Bucky had been to.

Tony knew the role Bucky played in his parent's deaths. He never said anything to Steve, but Stark was a jackass, not an idiot. He was hoping once he found Bucky- a lead, scrap of paper, whisper, _anything_\- it would be possible to convince the Avengers to help in the search. But first he needed proof of what they'd done to Bucky, something to ensure Tony wouldn't blame him for what happened to Howard and Maria Stark. Steve had his own suspicions on what Hydra did to keep him loyal, he just needed the proof.

If, however, Bucky went _back_ to Hydra, vanished all over again, then the only help Tony would ever offer would be the retrieval of Bucky's head- sans body, "I hope he didn't go back. I don't know. He had kill orders on me and I was dead to rights. He saved my life in the Potomac, I really think he was starting to break whatever hold they had. Maybe he doesn't remember who he was, maybe he does. Either way he'll go back to places that are familiar. Even the bad ones."

"Reprogramming Facility Alpha," Sam quoted from the file. "That doesn't sound like a place anyone would want to remember."

"Yeah, well, that's why we didn't come here sooner." Steve rubbed his jaw just in front of his ear. It was three months since Tony embedded the new comm unit there, but he swore he still felt it itching. When the pressure didn't set off any twinges of pain he tapped at it impatiently, "It's gotta be time to go, is this thing even working?"

A soft _click_ sounded in his ear, "Tech Support. What the _fuck_ can I help you with at _SIX THIRTY IN THE FUCKING MORNING?!_" Tony started with a sarcastic yet sleepy tone and ended at a full shout.

"I was just trying to see if the alarm was working. Sorry."

"Rogers, I've told you a hundred times, IT WORKS! Now STOP PLAYING WITH IT!" There was another _click_ indicating the line went dead.

Tony's embedded comms weren't something they used too often. Tap one of a dozen sequences over the injection scar for the device and get one of the Avengers, JARVIS, or a couple little features like the Alarm. Or, as Steve discovered, tap spastically for Tony.

"Wake Stark up again?" Sam refrained from using more than JARVIS' code and just let _him_ operate the comm.

"Yeah, and I'm not even all that sorry. Six thirty his time, that means two thirty us."

Sam sat down on the sidewalk of the bridge and leaned against the guard rail, "Wake me in 25 then."

Three AM. The intel they'd been able to gather over the last two weeks suggested a shift change took place then, if Hydra followed the same schedule as the captains on the bridge (who were probably Hydra as well considering they controlled the ship the Hydra base was on). At three in the morning the new shift would start and the barge would break port for the next city in the chain. Everyone in their containers wouldn't be able to hear Sam or Steve over the sounds of the engine and the rumblings of the ship. It would be a much simpler matter to subdue the guards on the ground before moving to the bridge to secure the vessel.

A soft _chime_ came through the comms precisely at 2:55. Sam groaned and got up off the hard ground. Steve was still watching the ship, studying every last shadow, "Figure out where our target is yet?"

"Not yet." They knew the base was on the ship, just not _where_ on the ship.

"Anything new?"

Steve shrugged, "Not really. Someone went into the tower, I think. They were walking fast, but not as if there was anything to worry about. We're good to get going, once the engines kick on."

Both men were ready to launch their attack- even though their intel was incomplete. The Hydra base, both times they'd managed to get an eye on it, was kept mobile, even on the barge itself. The containers were shuffled every other time it docked and he'd lost sight of them among the literally hundreds of metal boxes. Steve just hoped they even _had_ the guards outside again. Most of this plan rested on dumb luck.

"It's been five minutes… right?" Sam tapped on the small scar by his ear that marked the comms, "JARVIS, what time you got?" He waited and frowned, "Three o'four," he glanced at Steve.

"Maybe that guy is distracting the captain, we'll wait 10 more-" a scream, faint and distant, shattered the calm of the evening. Two quick _pops_ followed it- gunfire, "Let's go!" Steve jumped over the guardrail into a freefall. Sam launched into the air and spiraled down after the Captain. He caught him just above the chilly ocean water and angled towards the barge, keeping Steve barely out of the ocean spray. The dark waters would be their camouflage.

The barge was roughly 100 yards off when Steve let go of Sam's arm and dropped into the water. He breathed deeply before hitting and once he was submerged it was willpower that forced his muscles to move against the sudden chill of the ocean. Momentum carried him under the barge and placed him next to the rear anchor once he surfaced. He listened carefully before climbing up to the ship- the barge was utterly silent.

Once Steve was on deck he began to run through the maze of corridors, looking for any clues as to the source of the scream and weapons fire. Did someone beat them here? The man on the bridge? Natasha found evidence Hydra partnered with some crime lords, would one dare an attack?

Far to his right there was another horrific _scream_. Steve froze and tried to creep towards the source of the sound. He jumped at a loud, metallic _bang_. Something was happening in one of the containers. "Cap, I've got lights out of a container four rows east of your position," Sam wasn't worried about subtlety now. He was circling above the barge. Steve had a distinct feeling none of the crew on this barge was going to make it through this night.

"Roger, thanks," Steve ran in the direction of the sound as quickly as possible. He wove between shipping crates and containers until at last he saw something brighter than the dim safety lights illuminating the rows.

Before Steve was in direct sight of the Hydra containers a streak of motion caused him to switch focus. A man was running away towards the edge of the barge with the same sense of purpose he'd seen on the bridge of the ship, "Freeze!" Steve knew the shout wouldn't stop the man, but he was hoping at least for a glance back. He pulled his shield off and threw it, aiming the impact for the man's mid-back.

The intruder half-turned and knocked the shield aside in a spray of sparks- which more than anything else made Steve pick up his pace. Only one person he knew could do something like that, "BUCKY!"

Bucky dove from the edge of the ship into the icy waters and vanished instantly. That didn't stop Steve from jumping in right after him though. Sam swooped low to the surface and activated the life signs detector on his goggles. IT was useless on a boat of large metal boxes, but at least here he could get readings.

Steve surfaced and began to swim as hard as he could in the direction he'd last seen Bucky going, "Sam, do a scan! I can't see anything!"

"I'm trying!" Out on the ocean he could certainly _see_ more, but there was a massive amount of information to sift through.

Steve was still swimming towards the shore he thought Bucky was aiming for, "Any day now!"

"You've got whales, seals, and a zillion fish around you, it takes a bit to find a single human signal in all that noise!"

"FIND A WAY!"

"I'm trying but it's like dumping a mountain of nickles in front of me and giving me three seconds to find the damn dime!"

"Then run a metal scan! Fish aren't metal!" he was panting as he tried both to keep up his speed _and_ argue with Sam.

"Do I seriously have to remind you that Vibranium doesn't show up on a basic metal scan?!" Sam retorted, "Look, I'll do passes up and down the shore on both sides-"

"It takes ten minutes to complete a pass that way! He could get out and take a _shower_ and you wouldn't catch him!"

"What do you want me to do then?!" Steve was nearing the shore and Sam was at the limits of his patience. He scanned the area around them- no Bucky for at least three miles in either direction.

"Just go back and search the base!" Steve snapped, "I'll head him off at the ferry!"

Sam didn't confirm the order, he just turned and left knowing damn well he'd feel guilty later about not maintaining a professional attitude. Even though Steve was being just as bitchy as he was.

Eight months. With the exception of a foray to Avengers Tower for repairs to the wing unit and one more a few weeks later for the new comms (at which point Sam was declared a fully-fledged Avenger) this was what their lives had been like. Tense incursions, failure, and the next place on the list. Steve and Sam were both frustrated and now unless Bucky was caught at that ferry the failure would be so much worse. The only silver lining was that there were literally only two ways out of Juneau- by ferry or by airplane, and thankfully JARVIS had slipped Bucky's picture into the No-Fly database.

The longer Steve was off on his little solo mission the better for Sam. He landed first at the control tower for the barge, where Steve saw his mystery man (probably also Bucky) creeping around. The door was still open and so he cautiously entered with his hand on a gun. At the banks of computers and controls were three men. One had a broken neck and the other two had been stabbed in the side of the head. At least it was quick. Knowing the Winter Soldier's style they were probably all dead before anyone knew what was going on.

He wasn't the least bit apprehensive heading from the bridge down to the Hydra base. By the time Steve was on board everything was quieting down- Sam doubted Bucky had left anyone alive. Still, his first step was to retrieve Steve's shield. Just in case.

Just before they set out on their quest, when Fury met with Sam and Steve over his grave, he slipped the Falcon a bag filled with small beacon transmitters. Up to now the idea was that after they finished their incursion or search of a KGB base they would activate and leave behind one beacon so whatever was left of SHIELD would have the location to run their own search and gather any intel they could. Even an unused base or safehouse tended to hold a _few_ filing cabinets, and the two miniature Hydra bases they'd shut down had entire _rooms_ of them. Steve wanted nothing to do with this new SHIELD or their new Director. He was convinced it would just end up being another Nick Fury- more secrets. More lies. They always left long before the jets arrived.

Out of spite more than anything Sam pulled a beacon from the pocket of his tactical vest and activated it. Steve would insist on a full search, the meeting between him and the new SHIELD was inevitable now. Serves him right for acting like such a dick.

As soon as Sam turned the corner to the front of the Hydra containers though he was glad he let his temper make that call. A single guard hung half out of the open container door, and he appeared to be missing most of the front of his skull. Sam worked special ops, he'd seen a few sights that still gave him the odd nightmare, but even this turned his stomach. Judging by the wad of flesh and bone next to the person's face (or what was left of it), Bucky had grabbed the front of the guard's head and squeezed until he'd torn away the forehead, eyes, nose, and upper cheeks of his victim. Gray brain matter was still trickling down onto the wooden floor and strings of muscle that once connected to eyes hung limp.

For obvious reasons Sam looked away and quickly went inside. The second guard was by the door with a knife sticking out of his throat and a bullet hole in his chest. _Much_ easier to stomach.

The Hydra base was made to be shuffled around so that no one would be too familiar with the ten crates that never left the ship (if anyone cared enough to look for a two-level section of five crates each on a barge that held hundreds). Each container had a purpose, and that purpose was instantly clear to Sam as he stared across the narrow rooms. The separate pods were automatically linked and separated during the shuffle, but when they were connected as they were now the metal walls along the sides retracted, exposing the entire lower level. The short edge of the crates acted as the main support for the structure and could not be slipped back. Their position kept two rooms on one end concealed from curious eyes- labeled "Operating Room" and "Mechanics" on the doors.

One doctor Sam found in an equipment storage area with a broken neck. The man's tears were still visible on his cheeks. He almost felt bad for the guy, until he reminded himself this man was Hydra. What evils had this doctor facilitated? How many soldiers did he patch up, or even innocent people Hydra wanted to interrogate? Every computer screen Sam could see was shattered, even the spare ones in storage. Bucky unleashed hell on this place, and it almost made Sam hope that Steve didn't catch up to him.

An electric _hum_ was coming from the "Mechanics" pod as Sam slowly advanced into the base. He could smell the rancid stench of human flesh cooking- a cross between burned pork and chicken that set off a primal loathing. He covered his mouth and nose as he got closer to the ends of the two pods. He found a small hatch in the door and opened it. Something told him this container held whatever "Reprogramming Facility Alpha" had to offer someone like the Winter Soldier.

In the corner of the small room was a chair. It looked, at first glance, like something you'd see in a dentist office- foot and arm rests, reclined comfortably, with a neck and head rest slightly detached so it could be adjusted to fit the patient. But no dentist used metal restraints or electrocution to subdue their patients.

A woman's body was half in the restraints, as if she'd been fighting when they closed. One hand was locked in normally, but the metal cuff went _through_ the palm of the other. He had a feeling that was the second scream they heard. Behind her left should was a metal plate, and judging by the ID tag straining towards it the panel was likely magnetic. A good way to trap a man with a metal arm. Two panels covered the doctor's face with only a small seam between them. That was where the electric _hum_ and thin wisps of smoke came from.

He looked around for a power source to the chair and, once Sam identified it, he severed the cable with the help of Cap's shield. The tag fell, the panels sagged, and he barely suppressed the urge to pull them back. Sam glanced at the charred, black face through the seam and shivered- graying goo half-cooked on the face of the panel was familiar enough. He'd seen it a few times- when exposed to _that much_ electricity at once, eyes had a tendency to burst.

There was a tag on the side of the machine. He skimmed it, then instantly understood the savagery that went into the deaths of the men and women on the barge, "PROJECT: WINTER SOLDIER". The riddle was solved. Steve had been wondering how they buried his friend, kept Bucky loyal to Hydra- apparently the answer to that question was electroshock. Painful, brutal, and effective.

"Cap?" Sam activated his comms, "You there?" all animosity was gone from his voice.

"Yeah, what's wrong? I'm trying to hot-wire a car, I kind of need to concentrate."

"I know how they reprogrammed him, and you've got to be careful. There's an electroshock machine here, nothing the Geneva Convention would ever go for. They've been zapping him with this for god knows how long. That kind of damage is significant, and permanent."

"But he recognized me on the carrier-"

"He probably didn't. He might have just known something wasn't right. There's got to be a dozen points of failure when you try to make a guy into a weapon, but memory isn't something he'd have been able to recover after they used this thing. If you get in his way again don't play around- knock him out and we'll figure out what to do from there."

"Fine, thanks," Steve's heart sank a little. He'd been banking (more than he realized) on a small sliver of hope that if they found Bucky and brought him in then maybe given time his friend would be back…

Sam waited for more of a reply, but he didn't push it. When he got his Bachelor's degree in Psychology he'd studied the ethics of electroshock therapy. There was no computer, no dial setting the power on that machine, suggesting face-frying was the norm. At that kind of voltage there was no question- if they'd done it once or a hundred times- zapping Bucky would have killed anything trying to grow in his mind. All that could be left now was something hard. Cold. Empty. _So that machine, or at least an earlier version, was what created the Winter Soldier. No wonder he was ripping faces off._

Bucky didn't just come back to the base for revenge, though he certainly got his share of it. When Sam finally left the container he caught sight of a ladder in the far corner- and every rung on the left hand side was crushed. All four staff were accounted for, so what drew him upstairs?

The ladder was severely damaged by Bucky's climb, so Sam made his own ascent quickly before the metal broke, It led up into a record's room, a common enough place. He could just see a kitchen, living space, and bunk beds in the corner. The two crates directly over the "Mechanics" and "Operating Room" facilities here seemed to be the bathroom and "Water Treatment". Sam walked along the borders of the densely crowded filing crate, stopping only at one with a knife sticking out of the lock and a bloody, crushed handle. He decided to start there.

Every file hung neatly in its own little folder, no matter how thin. Sam combed through them all. If Bucky took something then it was small- there was hardly enough space to open the folders as it was. He flicked through the hanging folders impatiently and stopped once he found an empty one, "PROJECT ECHO 2008-2010".

Sam pulled out the empty folder and set it aside, then continued through the filing cabinet- there was nothing else missing. He frowned and picked up the hanging folder again. Bucky attacked a Hydra base- killed seven people (that he knew of)- for a 5 year old Hydra project folder? Sam thought of the scene downstairs- every screen smashed. He thought it was rage, but Bucky had made a point of going after _every_ screen, not just the ones in his path. Was he trying to make sure no one could access the digital records?

_I must have missed something_, Sam looked through every file carefully this time. It didn't add up- why this folder? What was so special about it? More importantly- this was Echo, where were Alpha, Beta, Charlie, and Delta? Was Echo, whatever it was, part of Bucky's programming process? Could that be why he went after the file- medical records or something from 2008 to 2010?

"Steve, do you need any help casing the ferry?"

"No, I've got it covered. If he's running around killing people I'd rather not have you in his way. Besides, this area's too heavily wooded. Your wings are useless."

"Good," Sam only called to make sure that was the case, "Bucky took something from this place, an old project file. I'm going to try and figure out what it was."

"You should signal the SHIELD teams," Steve heaved a sigh of defeat, "as soon as someone notices that barge isn't moving like it should they'll send someone out to check on it. SHIELD should be here to secure the scene."

"Way ahead of you. We're going to miss our window in San Francisco, aren't we?"

"Probably… But that might not be such a bad thing. If we can figure out what that project file means to him then maybe we'll know where to look next. Find his file first though, alright?"

"Deal," Sam eyeballed the cabinets all around him- probably thousands of files and sighed heavily, "This is going to take a while…"


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: SHIELD **

"Agent Wilson, I presume?" Sam jumped at the unexpected voice and tipped over. He was crouched down, sifting through his seventh filing cabinet and completely oblivious to what was going on around him.

The speaker was an Asian lady somewhere between 30 and 50 (he was shit at guessing ages) with a serious scowl and the straight spine of a fighter. Her body language told him she didn't trust his identity yet- feet planted firmly in line with her shoulders, hands kept just far enough away from the body to give her the optimal reaction time should he choose to attack- everything about this woman reminded him of Natasha. Not that that was a bad thing. Her tactical suit was a little more conservative and bore the emblem of SHIELD.

"I'm not an agent."

"The Avengers are still a SHIELD unit. If you're one of them, you're one of us."

He raised an eyebrow, "Captain Rogers will disagree with you on that."

"Captain Rogers can take it up with the Director," Sam immediately distrusted her. Anyone with the rule book shoved that far up their ass tended to be bad news. "Why are you still here?" Evidently she was done with their previous line of dialogue.

Sam shook his head and decided to play difficult; it was the kind of mood he was in, "Isn't it a free country?"

"Who killed the personnel on this barge? You and Rogers aren't quite this bloody usually."

"That's classified."

The woman glowered with that special blend of annoyance and patience that marked S.O's. No wonder she was a walking, talking procedure manual- she probably trained new agents, "I'm not here to fight with you, I'm here to clean out this facility. I don't especially are if you're here on a mission or a sight-seeing trip. My team can't go home until we've collected every last slip of paper," she stared pointedly at a tiny stack of papers next to Sam, "so your cooperation is advised."

Sam reached up and activated his comms. Instead of dialing JARVIS as usual, he tried to call Steve directly, "Cap, you read?"

"Wrong number," _shit_, now he was going to look like a complete jackass, "let me guess, you're worrying about looking like a jackass?"

"Correct," Natasha Romanov, always so damn perceptive.

"Local PD? FBI? CIA? Hydra? SHIELD?" Natasha paused after each guess.

"Bingo."

"SHIELD," she was mildly curious, "which agent?"

Sam looked over at the scary Asian lady, "Agent-?"

"May," her voice was hard.

"Agent May," he was grateful to Natasha for this. Nothing on his end was giving away the fact that he'd accidentally typed in her code instead of Steve's. _Serves you right for trying to show off_. Natasha understood his position, and she was a good, loyal friend. She knew how to help Sam save face.

May's pocket began to chime and she whipped out a cell phone. She glanced at the number- encrypted, "Agent May."

"Hey Melinda!" Sam jumped at Natasha's greeting, playing through his comm unit, "How's it going?"

"Fine," her expression took on a bemused look. Sam's mouth fell open, "Just cleaning up after Agent Wilson. This place is a wreck but he's refusing to answer any of my questions."

"He's on a mission sanctioned by Fury, you know how it is. It's a Level 10 security risk, Hydra asset containment tied to the fall of the Triskellion."

"Why didn't he just say so?" her stance immediately relaxed.

"Hey Sam, I'm going to chat with May a bit, so why don't you try dialing Steve again? Maybe get JARVIS to help?"

"TRAITOR!" he directed his shout to May's phone- Natasha already ended their chat over comms, "Tell her any warm and fuzzy feelings I had for her are gone!"

May smiled wickedly (why didn't he guess sooner they were friends?) and listened to Natasha's reply, "She says they just finished installing a surround sound system in your apartment at the Tower."

"Warm and fuzzy back, WARM AND FUZZY BACK!" Tension broken, Sam tapped out Steve's code while May went to inspect the other end of the crates and catch up with Natasha.

"What?" Steve didn't sound happy.

"SHIELD's here. Some friend of Natasha's. I've got a couple leads, but I'm less than a fifth of the way through all of this and honestly the leads won't get us anywhere near Bucky. I was thinking- what if we go with this team back to their HQ? We could go through the intel from other facilities we've cleaned out, maybe there's another copy of our 'Project Echo' file B-" he glanced at May. Her back was to him but if she was anything like Romanov- "-our _missing person_ took."

Steve sounded pissed, "I've already said, I don't want SHIELD getting involved! If their new leader is anything like Fury they'll take Bucky and either lock him up or make him into _their_ weapon! I'm not dealing with them again!"

"Easy, easy. Just a second," Sam disconnected the line and stood. He walked over to Agent May and waited patiently for her to finish whatever she and Natasha were discussing. As soon as she saw him waiting she ended the call.

"What do you need?" Her tone was _much_ friendlier.

Sam sighed and tried to strip his temper and frustration from his words, "Captain Rogers doesn't want any SHIELD involvement in this matter. _However_, I believe we need _your_ intel to get anywhere. What happened at the Triskellion broke his faith in your organization. I need to convince him to trust you, at least for now."

"You want the name of SHIELD's new Director." She considered it, "That… might not be possible."

"If it's someone he knows it could make all the difference."

May thought it through carefully, "How serious is this?"

"I haven't slept in my own bed in 8 months. We've been staying in shady motels and driving everywhere so Hydra can't track us. I'm going to kill Captain America in his sleep soon, if he doesn't kill me first."

"I can't make any promises," she warned, "but our ability to stall the authorities only goes so far right now. In case you missed it after the Triskellion collapse, SHIELD _and_ Hydra were labeled terrorist organizations. We only managed to barter five hours here to pack up as much of this base as possible. We've got a Quin-jet outside and a mobile base of our own half an hour out in the ice fields. I'll call the Director and explain what I can. Come with use to _our_ base. You can still go through this intel as long as you'd like. I'll make my computers expert available to you for anything you want to check out from our database. If the Director agrees to reveal their identity, then we'll have to take you to our headquarters. That's the best I can offer."

It was fair enough, but- "Captain Rogers isn't going to agree to walk into a mobile SHIELD base and go for a joy ride to have a pow-wow with someone he doesn't even want to meet. I need some way to assure him your Director is someone we can trust."

"And that isn't happening without a face-to-face. I guarantee that."

Sam shrugged, "Start gathering files at least, you're on a clock and if it's you or us- the information is safer _out_ of the local PD's hands." He walked over to his little stack of papers and slipped them into his vest, "I'm keeping these. I'll try to figure something out before you have to go."

"That's fine by me. I'll call the Director, see if there is any way we can expedite all of this and get a name to Captain Rogers."

"What are the odds he knows them?"

May almost smiled, "Higher than you'd think," she nodded to the ladder, "go find Agent Skye, she's our computer expert. Have her set you up with her laptop and access to our file database. She's the non-British one."

Sam didn't want to leave the file room, but he couldn't look for intel with Agent May watching, not without alerting her to what they were looking for. On a computer at least he could skim file names to see if they had any intel worth teaming up for. He fought at the Triskellion, he understood Steve's reluctance to deal with SHIELD in _any_ aspect, but they needed SHIELD resources. Was it worth risking a trap? For all they knew this "SHIELD" team was Hydra themselves. _Now that's a terrifying thought_.

It came down to Natasha, ironically. Master of deception, best spy in the world, reformed super villain- and she was _exactly_ who Sam trusted to tell _them_ who to trust. She was friends with May. She told her enough to satisfy SHIELD without compromising anything Steve wanted off-radar. Sam wandered to the ladder and tapped his comms to link to JARVIS, "Natasha, please."

With a _click_ she came back on, "You should listen to May," she said immediately, "she's a good Agent. I don't know who the new Director is, but they've left us to our own work for eight months, I don't think they'll try to start meddling now."

"That's exactly what I needed to hear," Sam let the tension out of his shoulders, "thanks."

"One more thing- how are you and Steve doing?"

"Exhausted," he answered honestly, "frustrated, angry."

"Constant arguing?"

"Feels like it, most days. This is taking a lot out of both of us. We're sneaking around just like B- like _him_ to stay off Hydra's radar. It's not easy."

Natasha understood exactly, "And this is only going to galvanize him- having a lead."

"I don't regret taking this mission," he wanted to make that clear, "I just don't think this lead is going towards any kind of endgame. It's a project that's been over and done for five years. Once he sees that there's no reason for him to continue chasing after it. Or- hell, we don't know his mental condition, he might not even be _pursuing_ that lead."

"I'll keep working my contacts," she promised, "see what they can find. Did you figure out yet how they kept him under control?"

"I think so. Just a sec," Sam headed down the ladder and immediately put his hand over his comm- a seemingly universal sign for "I'm busy". He didn't even look at the agents in the base, he pulled out his phone and went straight to the chair. A young woman was working on getting the Doctor's body free- her blackened face was exposed with _both_ eyes burst, "Excuse me," the agent stepped back while Sam snapped several pictures, "I'm sending them to the Tower server," he told Natasha, "It's not pretty, the doctor got to try it out for herself."

"I'll start working on Stark," she promised, "I'll show him- _oh boy_\- I don't think it will be hard to get him on our side with these pictures."

"He might not be so easy, considering what our guy did to Howard and Maria Stark."

"I'll have Pepper change the codes on the armory first."

"Thanks Natasha."

"Stay sane," she clicked off her comm.

Sam took his hand off his own comm and smiled apologetically at the agent, "Sorry about the interruption."

"Oh, it's fine! We can't move this until everything else is gone," she quickly explained. Sam had found the 'British one'.

A curly-haired young man came up behind him and began examining the wing unit, "S-stark's technology is always…"

"Light-years?" the woman offered and leaned over to see her partner more clearly.

"Light-years- ahead of us." Sam glanced back at him without moving too much so he could keep up his examination. He knew that look from his work at the VA- hunched shoulders, jittery hands, trouble remembering words- this guy had suffered some kind of brain trauma, and from the look on the woman's face it seemed to be recent.

"I'm Agent Simmons," the girl was cute, in a nerdy way. Sam took an immediate liking and shook her hand, "and that's Agent Fitz."

"It's nice to meet both of you," he offered his hand to Fitz but the man didn't even glance at it.

"Will Captain Rogers be joining us soon?" Simmons was keenly interested, "I wrote one of my doctoral theses on Erskine's serum, and do you think he would give me a DNA sample?"

"Oh, I forgot!" Sam quickly dialed Steve's comm, "that was a lot longer than I expected, sorry."

Steve, on the other side of Juneau by the ferry landing, was watching the boat sail away. Every last person on that boat was legit. He'd had JARVIS combing security feeds for Bucky's face while he watched from the tree cover- the closest he could get while in his Avengers uniform without drawing attention. "It's a bust," he grumbled, "Bucky's probably halfway around the world by now."

"Even better reason to at least try and work with SHIELD."

"You know that's not gonna happen, Sam."

"They said you'd know the new Director. That you worked with them before."

"Still. No. Meet me back at the hotel, we've got to re-plan San Francisco," Steve's voice took on a hard tone. Discussion over.

Sam smiled to Agents Fitz and Simmons, "Oh no!" he yelped with just enough exaggerated fear to make it obvious he was screwing around, "No! Don't taze the wings! You'll short them- ah!" the scream of "pain" he made comically high-pitched and drawn out, "Oh no, Steve! I can't get away! SHIELD is kidnapping me! I'm a dead man! Tell my goldfish I love her and my momma goodbye for me!"

"You don't have a goldfish, jackass."

"Then _get_ one and tell Susan I love her."

"Sam!" Steve was half-shouting, "Stop screwing around!"

"Oh no, I'm a prisoner now! The horror, the HORROR!" he turned off his comm and called JARVIS, "Please reject all calls from Steve." Proud, he winked to the SHIELD agents, "There. To answer your question, Steve will be on his way momentarily. As soon as he's done with his temper tantrum, _then_ you can ask for a DNA sample."

Simmons and Fitz seemed mildly taken aback, yet entertained all the same, "Hey, we're on the clock you two!" a tall, bald black man came over with a young half-Asian woman at his side. This girl, Sam was willing to bet, was Skye.

"We're going, we're going," Simmons threw a playful glare at the agent and waved to Sam before returning with Fitz to work.

"The computer files are… are… um- corrupted. Yes, that's- they've been corrupted."

"How so? I can take a look," Skye offered.

Fitz shook his head, "It's all gone. I think the screens were destroyed so no one would notice the virus until it was too late."

"Smart cookie," Skye glanced at a readout on Fitz's tablet, "May says there are paper files, so we at least have that."

"Speaking of paper files," Sam interjected, "one was taken by our subject, I was wondering if I could see your database and look for any references?"

"Sure, who are you?"

"Oh, uh, Sam Wilson, sorry."

"Well Sam Wilson, it's nice to meet you. I'm Agent Tripplet Jones, you can call me Tripp." The man shook his hand while Skye gaped.

"Sam Wilson as in the Falcon?" Skye was instantly excited, "Sam Wilson as in Captain America's best friend? The guy who helped take out Hydra in the Triskellion? The newest Avenger?!"

"Easy," Tripp laughed, "Skye, don't scare him off."

"I thought my involvement in what happened at the Triskellion was off radar? And how did you know they made me an Avenger?"

Skye smiled mischievously, "Why do I get the feeling you don't know about the toys?"

"Toys?"

She had to grab onto Tripp's shoulder she was laughing so hard, "Oh my god!"

"Fill me in on what's so funny?" Sam had a feeling he didn't want to know.

"Like a month ago Falcon toys started hitting the shelves- it was all anyone anywhere on the _planet_ was talking about! 'New Avenger Announced'; 'Avengers Recruit SHIELD Whistleblower'; 'Captain America's Mysterious New Ally Inducted into Avengers', it was _everywhere_! No one told you?!"

Sam's jaw dropped, then his lip curled into an involuntary snarl, "Stark…" He suddenly had a pretty good idea as to why Steve hated the guy, "The whole world knows I'm the Falcon?"

Tripp fielded the response, "Nah man, you're good. SHIELD knows the Falcon is Sam Wilson. The general public only knows the Falcon was the dude with Cap taking out SHIELD and he's an Avenger now. Your identity is safe. They think you were a SHIELD agent."

He heaved a sigh of relief. Now he knew why, while he still didn't like the guy, Steve was willing to work with Tony. He wasn't ready just yet to become a public figure. Falcon- sure. Sam Wilson- no, thank you. Natasha was probably telling Stark about Bucky and the Winter Soldier right about now, so he decided to wait before he confronted Stark.

"Hey, I've got to help Fitzsimmons box everything up- they get distracted easily," Tripp wanted to talk more, but they were too busy, "I'll leave you with Agent Skye."

She was still beaming like a fan girl who's dreams had come true, "So what are you still doing here? You two usually fly the coop long before we show up!"

"I'm looking for a file, actually. The person who wiped this place out took what I'm assuming is some kind of reference sheet. We need to know everything we can about the file he grabbed."

"That's going to be difficult," Skye pulled off her bag and removed a tablet. She passed it to Sam, "this is everything we've got, but Hydra files aren't something we're interested in until they come back to bite us, unfortunately. We have the paper copies at HQ, but nothing in the database. If whatever you need was on SHIELD servers you're fine, but otherwise…"

"So we're definitely going to need to go back to headquarters to get answers?"

Skye nodded, "Most likely."

Sam smiled wickedly, "Steve's going to kill me."


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Intel **

"Oh yeah, I can tell you're really suffering," Sam turned away from Skye's tablet just in time to take a duffle bag full in the face. He fell off the stool he was perched on and landed painfully on the metal and wood floor of the shipping crate. He jumped to his feet, ready for a fight, but held back once he identified his "attacker". He couldn't be angry, it was only fair- he'd done the same thing to Steve last week.

Steve had showered and changed into civvies (more to cover up the stench of a night and most of a day in the wet uniform) and carried with him his own duffle bag. He had no less than eight pizzas and four plastic bags of soda, plates, and popcorn in the other arm. While his friend's smile was polite as he approached, Sam got the impression he was a dead man walking.

"Doing alright?" his voice was tense in what to him was a den of enemies.

"No," Sam replied honestly- the SHIELD agents were securing the last of the files upstairs and were, for the moment, out of sight. The electroshock chair was already gone, thankfully, "I can't find anything on our lead. I think we should go with them- seriously. Natasha's buddies with their lead agent. I seriously doubt it's a trap."

"I don't care. We're not risking it. We can't trust these people!" he spoke in a whisper.

"Captain Rogers!" Tripp came down the ladder, guiding some sort of vertical lift that was supporting an entire file cabinet down. He quickly came to the corner where Sam and Steve were and offered a hand, "I'm Agent Tripplet Jones. You knew my grandfather, back in the day."

Steve set his duffle down and obligingly returned the handshake, then froze at Tripp's last sentence. His face broke into a massive grin the likes of which Sam hadn't seen in months, "Gabe Jones? You're Gabe Jones' grandson? You two could be twins! Sam, his grandfather was a Howling Commando!" it was night a day- the Steve who entered the shipping crate and the one meeting the grandson of a long-dead friend.

Sam tried to hide his triumphant smile, "I guess this SHIELD might not be Hydra in disguise after all."

"Why didn't you say a Howling Commando's _grandson_ was on the team? This changes everything!" Steve was beaming, "Your grandfather saved my butt more times than I could ever count! Is Bea your grandmother? What was his name… Donny! Was Donnie your father, or did they have more kids?"

As Steve and Tripp swapped Stories of Gabe and his wife, Sam wandered over behind Steve. He flashed Tripp two thumbs up and mouthed "perfect!". There was no doubt now that Steve would at least give SHIELD a chance.

"We're almost done loading up, are you two joining us or not?" Agent May interrupted. The other agents were engrossed in the exchange- none of them knew Tripp's father was a part of Captain America's elite unit- the original Avengers, really. The very first agents of SHIELD were Howling Commandos- making Tripp a legacy agent! One of the first, after Sharon Carter. Now it all made sense, Coulson's quick and complete trust in Tripp, even after his S.O. (and his S.O's _former_ junior Agent Ward) turned out to be Hydra.

"We need intel," Steve admitted, "no matter how much we need our mission off SHIELD's radar."

Agent May nodded, "Then get in the jet and we'll head back to our Bus. I've arranged for you- and _only_ you- to meet with our Director as soon as we arrive."

"I brought pizza for everyone," he offered, lifting his other arm (as if they couldn't see 8 pizza boxes), "it's ransom for Sam."

"That's all I'm worth to you? Eight pizzas?" Sam snapped with mock outrage.

"I got a Hawaiian one. Plus the pizzeria gave us popcorn too."

"In that case god bless."

* * *

Steve spent the quick hop to the "Bus" (which turned out to be a SHIELD cargo plane) chatting with Skye and Tripp while Sam got to know Simmons and Fitz. The team was everything the Avengers were not- unification being the most obvious feature. Even the strict Agent May seemed more of a mothering figure once you got to know her a bit. They all joked as the jet flew deep into the ice fields and once the jet docked with its mother ship they moved down into the living quarters and began on the pizza, sodas, and popcorn. It made for a fun and almost family-like atmosphere.

Once their lunch was finished May directed Steve and Sam to remain in the living quarters while the rest of the crew emptied out the contents of the Quin-Jet and completed final checks on the anchors holding it to the hull before takeoff.

"I'm sorry for snapping so much," Steve rubbed his eyes as exhaustion caught up with him, "you're a good friend. You've already gone above and beyond, helping me look for _him_. I shouldn't be such a dictator."

"I would have left off the 'tator' bit." Sam chuckled, "Nah, man, I get it. If it was Riley Hydra brainwashed and turned into some super-assassin I'd be chasing him down just as hard. Judging by that machine I saw B- you-know-who has to be the longest serving POW in history. The way I look at it it's my _duty_ to bring him back."

"This isn't the first time we've had this conversation."

"Well, if you trust SHIELD maybe it can be the last."

Steve just nodded and sat down on a low couch. They waited in comfortable silence for Agent May to ready the bus for flight.

Nearly 24 hours after they'd gone out to the bridge to finalize plans for their assault on the Hydra barge, the stress and strain overwhelmed Steve and Sam. By the time Agent May made it to the bridge they were both asleep in their chairs. They remained that way- Steve with his head on the table and Sam stretched out across the seats- until the plane landed at home base.

"Captain Rogers, Agent Wilson," May's voice woke the duo several hours later. Sam groaned on the couch and tried to stretch. His arm and leg were asleep in his suit- unlike Steve he never got the chance to change.

Steve, capable of sleeping just about anywhere, was more graceful in the wake-up than his companion. He sat up and brushed his sandy blond hair aside, whereas Sam sat up with one eye half open, half his body tingling painfully, and angry red lines where his suit had marked the skin.

"Agent Wilson-"

"Not an agent."

"_Mr_. Wilson then," May wasn't arguing this time, "Agent Jones will escort you to our locker room. You can shower and change there, then he'll take you to our records storage. Captain Rogers, you'll meet with our Director and brief them _completely_ on your mission. If the Director agrees then you will be given a team of Agents to help go through our files. If not, you and Mr. Wilson will be given 24 hours to find what you can and then you will be escorted to a neutral location of your choice."

"You had me at 'shower'," Sam shook out the tingling in his leg and stood.

Steve took a deep breath and followed May out of the plane. He was _resigned_ to meeting the Director. He didn't have to be enthusiastic about it. He tried to think back over the SHIELD agents he'd had contact with, but most had turned out to be Hydra. Alexander Pierce had made him into as much of a Hydra asset as Bucky. The thought made his blood boil. And he'd been in such a good mood when he first woke up…

SHIELD's base turned out to be fairly small, compared to the others. Of course, now that they were a so-called terrorist organization it wasn't like they'd be moving into another massive Triskellion-esque facility anytime soon.

The hanger was relatively large, equipped to handle two planes the size of Agent May's "Bus". There were a few Quin-Jets sitting around, but for the most part the other half of the hanger doubled as a gym. Agents here trained in hand-to-hand and boxing, just like Steve had, once upon a time.

Heading through the base Steve was struck by how familiar it all looked. Labs, meeting rooms, storage, and living quarters were all crammed together and vied for limited space- the closeness was only magnified by the sheer number of Agents trying to navigate their work spaces. It wasn't a claustrophobic feeling though. For Steve there was something else- something more. Nostalgia.

"This facility belonged to the Strategic Scientific Reserve, once upon a time," May noticed the pained look in Steve's eyes, "they used to build everything from the same blueprints. The idea being-"

"-if you've been to one base you can find your way around all of them." It looked _so much_ like the place he, Bucky, Peggy, and Howard had been stationed at during the war. IF he didn't know any better he'd have thought it was the same base. But that place, if it still existed, was lost somewhere in the French Alps. Nowhere near this facility. He'd tried tracking it down when they first went after Bucky, but the entrance was gone and they never found a way in or even a marker of where it once stood.

So if this was a different facility, what gave it the right to show him so many painful memories? What gave the ghosts the right to come out? Peggy wasn't standing there in the meeting room consoling him after they got back from that disastrous mission that left Bucky in the hands of the KGB and Hydra, she was in a nursing home in D.C. lost somewhere in the past. Howard wasn't in the lab cooking up some new weapon- but his son probably was. The Howling Commandos were all in their graves, not the equipment room gearing up. And Bucky- his best friend was out there somewhere, lost and angry, not safe here telling Steve what a loser he was for getting all nostalgic over a building he'd never even been in before and a past he could never return to. Red Skull took some of it from him. Zola took the rest.

"I'm not meeting your Director," he wasn't going to let history repeat itself. It wasn't worth it to trust SHIELD and risk them turning on him and Bucky once they realized there was a second super-soldier on the board, "The Avengers will handle this." Steve turned around and came face-to-face with one last ghost- the SHIELD agent he let down before the Battle of New York.

"I know," Coulson smiled after Steve's long pause, "I look good for a dead guy."

Steve could only gape at him, "You're alive?" his mood abruptly darkened (more so than it already had), "Fury." Steve turned and slammed his fist into the wall- a bit less satisfying than the target he _wanted_, but he wouldn't be the reason Coulson returned to the grave.

"I'll have that dent framed," Coulson smiled, "the agents will get a kick out of it. Adds a touch of class to the joint- Avenger damage."

"Did Loki ever even know you existed, or was all that a ploy to get us to work together?"

"I was dead," Coulson was very calm about the Captain's outburst and display of temper, "For about two days, actually. We developed a project, T.A.H.I.T.I., after you were thawed. Pseudo-science capable of bringing back the dead- only to be used in the event of an Avenger's death. I shut the project down. Fury brought it back, then brought _me_ back."

"Is it-"

"-it's no longer in play. It was destroyed. Utterly. No chance of replication."

"It had better be gone," he warned.

Coulson nodded, "Don't tell the other Avengers, by the way. Agent Hill says you're still not the most cohesive unit. I'd prefer to be a dead mascot than alive and Avengers-less."

Steve snorted, "Of course Maria Hill is still SHIELD," she was Tony's employee, technically, but in truth worked with all Avengers either helping plan missions, gather intel, or seeking out persons and items of interest. Right now she was supposed to be scanning Hydra intel to get a lead on Loki's missing staff. Steve made a mental note to yank her off that project as soon as possible, in case she just handed it back to SHIELD.

"We aren't going to interfere with the Avengers in any way," Coulson offered. "I promise you that. My call to Maria Hill came after Agent May said she was bringing you and Mr. Wilson in. I've known Maria as an Agent for 15 years. I'm just used to the title, that's all." He was using the same tone he'd try to talk a gunman down with. One glance to Agent May told him she was thinking the same thing.

The fall of SHIELD alone hadn't been enough, but it isn't really just one straw that breaks the camel's back, it's a million working together. The brutality of WW2, the endless fight, losing his best friend, losing _all_ his friends, losing his time- only to find out that SHIELD, the agency created by his former lover, was another victim of that old feud. Coulson could see it in Steve clearly, the darkness of someone who'd been through too much. People tended to forget the Avengers were human too. Steve had no grasp anymore of _why_ he was fighting, he just knew that he _was_. A shadow like that could very easily devour a man. It had done the same to Agent May.

"Doesn't matter whose side Hill is on. I'm done with secrets, and I'm done with SHIELD. We'll find the intel some other way." Steve turned around to find his way back to the Bus. He was grabbing his stuff, grabbing Sam, and-

"Do you think you can get the intel before Hydra gets the Winter Soldier?" Steve froze, "We've got people inside Hydra. We already know what they did to James Barnes. Hydra's been on high alert since the Triskellion. We might know more than you at this point. Did you know he wiped out facilities in Russia, Sweden, South Africa, and the Rocky Mountains?"

Steve turned to face Coulson, "Do you know where he is?" his voice was ice.

"No, but if you trust us we might be able to help you figure out where he is heading. He's running from Hydra, SHIELD, and the Avengers. He may be unstable and you can sure as hell bet that he's lethal. We don't want to bring him in, not if the Avengers take custody, we just want him off the streets before anyone gets hit in the crossfire. You can trust us or race us, it's your call."

_Technically_ Coulson had never lied to them, but it was still a difficult call for Steve to make. He barely knew the guy for three days before he "died", but the others loved him- even Tony. Clint roomed with him at SHIELD Academy and Natasha was willing to work under him on any mission- and she usually wasn't the biggest fan of taking orders… Besides, if Steve was being perfectly honest he didn't have anywhere to go that was more likely to get him within a hundred miles of his lost friend. He had to roll the dice, "Project Echo," he said at last, "Bucky took that file from the barge and nothing else that we know of. From what Sam found it's been off the books for 5 years, but it was important to him for some reason. He killed everyone on that ship, wiped the computers, but Sam thinks it was as much about that file as it was revenge."

Coulson nodded, "Alright, we'll help you figure out what he's doing. I'll send half a dozen agents to the records room to help you with your search and another six to digitize them and run keyword searches," he held out a hand and, after consideration, Steve shook it. "Peggy Carter made James Barnes a SHIELD agent posthumously so that he would be included in our Wall of Valor. We protect our own, Steve. He's a prisoner of war as far as I'm concerned, and it's our _duty_ to bring him home."

"He isn't going to SHIELD," Steve warned.

"Remember? The Avengers are technically a SHIELD team. If he's with you he _is_ in SHIELD custody." This whole thing was an apology, and so Coulson was willing to bend the rules for the Avengers. If they help rescue Steve's friend then maybe when they need a favor the Avengers are willing to repay the debt. Coulson was looking ahead- SHIELD hadn't exactly welcomed Skye openly once the other faction learned about her abilities, the Avengers would be the safest place for her should the issue ever arise again.

Still weary of a double-cross, Steve watched Coulson carefully. At this point he was at the end of his patience, and he _owed_ it to Sam to finish this once and for all. They bickered constantly, but he still knew who his friends were. Steve just wished he could be sure Coulson counted among those ranks. Just because he was a fan didn't mean he wouldn't stab Steve in the back if it looked like it would benefit him… _I don't even remember when I became the pessimist_, he thought sadly.

* * *

"I've got something. It's not a lot, not even a little, but it's _something_," Sam frowned as he flipped through a binder of Hydra memos from one of the bases Bucky wiped out. It was massive, but they were being thorough. Sam had placed sticky-notes inside to act as page markers and he flipped through them, "Five memos just say 'Project: Echo failed, advise,' and I have four, 'Failure unacceptable, proceed as planned'. The last reply though is, 'Director Pierce to oversee termination personally, stand by,' like I said, it's thin, but-"

"-it's more than any of us have found. Put it on the board," Steve nodded to a large cork board with the few pieces of evidence they had (most taken from the barge in Alaska by Sam): The empty hanging folder, a one-page medical brief on the Winter Soldier, and a directory of Hydra Asset ID numbers with Bucky's highlighted.

"I've got something too," Tripp had the binder with the other half of the messages from the base in Gallivare, Sweden. He glanced up at Bucky's Hydra ID to verify, "'Project: Echo failed, termination complete' sent from his ID."

"If the Winter Soldier is receiving a termination order it means we're probably talking about a _human_ project." Steve sighed, "Whoever they were, they're long dead."

"He has the file, just by _looking_ at it he'd know he's got a cold case on his hands. Still, he _took_ it. Maybe he's not looking for the subject, maybe it's something else."

Skye was in the lab with Fitz, Simmons, and three other agents scanning boxes and boxes of files as the team in the records room progressed. She stuck her head in the door and knocked softly, "Captain Rogers? Can I borrow you for, like, five minutes?"

"Don't let him come back until he has fresh coffee," Sam waved his empty mug at Steve.

"Sure, what do you need?" Steve collected all empty cups on the table and followed Skye out into the hall.

She was nervous- everyone was around Steve, "I was screwing around- only because the scanner was busy- and I found something you might be interested in. It didn't slow us down, I promise, but-"

"I've been too intense, I know. It's fine. We've been at this for ten hours, everyone needs a rest. Don't worry, please." He'd gotten over a good chunk of his temper- enough to feel guilty towards everyone he'd been snapping at. Especially Sam. He always felt guilty for snapping at Sam lately.

Skye held out her tablet and pressed play, "Just on a hunch I ran facial recognition with that picture of Bucky you provided, focusing on the Smithsonian exhibit and Avengers Tower after the emergence of Hydra, just in case maybe he went looking for you," she tapped one of about twenty small black-and-white images and it filled the screen. It was the James Barnes memorial wall in his exhibit. A man stood in front of it. The picture was clear enough to identify him- Bucky, "I can't say if he _remembers_ or not, but he stared at that wall for a good half hour, then spent another four in the exhibit until a security guard sent him out for the night. The only other things he really focused on were the pictures of you before Project Rebirth and all the interviews with Agent Carter and the Howling Commandos."

It was like a massive weight was being lifted from his shoulders. He was more hopeful than certain it was Bucky who pulled him out of the Potomac, or that the hesitation before the killing blow on the helicarrier was recognition and not the fact that they were in a flying ship that was exploding all around them. Bucky at the Smithsonian seeing who he was and who their friends were- he _had_ to remember something- or he at least had a damned good idea! Hydra's programming was breaking, "Thank you, Skye!" he grabbed her and pulled her into a bear-hug, "Thank you so much."

She was grinning as he released her, "Yeah, well, it was nothing."

"Peace of mind isn't _nothing_, it's everything." Now he knew for sure that if he found Bucky it wouldn't turn into another fight, they might not even have to keep him locked up at first! He knew who he was, he knew how Hydra kept him loyal. Steve wasn't hunting the Winter Soldier, he was hunting an exceptionally pissed off James Barnes- and that he could handle.

* * *

The next day they hit pay dirt, "I'VE GOT IT!" Agent May's excited outburst startled even the SHIELD agents at the table. She slapped down an order form in the middle of the table, "Three active vials of Dengue Fever earmarked for Project: Echo at Hydra facility Astana in Kazakhstan."

"Dengue?" Sam looked at the page and whistled. "It's for torture," he explained in response to Steve's questioning look, "Mosquito-carried illness around hotter climates. I was stationed in a few of those areas, back in my military days. They say it makes your body feel like it's on fire."

They knew Project: Echo involved a human subject or subjects, but the Winter Soldier was an assassin. Add the torture side to it and the puzzle that was basically everything between his fall from the train in Siberia through now took an even darker turn, "Alright, new target," Coulson broke the silence, "find anything you can on Hydra Facility Astana. May, contact Agent Ivaneau, see if she can slip us any intel from Hydra."

"I'll update Natasha, see if she can find anything," Sam patted Steve's shoulder as he stood.

"Come with me, I'll show you where your comms will work," May exited with him.

Coulson eyed Steve, "Bucky has been ripping apart Hydra bases, there's a chance Astana is already gone, we just haven't found out about it yet. I hate to be the naysayer, but what's your plan if it's another dead end?"

Steve's heart was still pounding with excitement over the lead, Coulson's worries didn't even phase him, "Natasha is working on Stark. If we can get him on board then I'll be able to go after him with the full might of the Avengers, finally. We'll get him, one way or the other."

"And if he can't be the guy you knew anymore?"

"Then at least he's not in Hydra's hands. He's always been like a real brother to me, I won't let him down again."


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Astana **

Getting the blueprints for a Hydra facility turned out to be a hell of a lot easier than finding even a sliver of information on a top-secret project implemented there. Agent Ivanou came through within hours and an encrypted data-burst included not only base schematics, but also a personnel list and guard rotation schedule- confirmation it was still very much active. At least as of that morning.

Within five hours Steve was back on the Bus with Sam, Agent May's team, and about a dozen support agents. While Steve and Sam made for the records room the others would take control of the facility, wipe out Hydra with extreme prejudice, and liberate any prisoners within.

Hydra Facility Astana, as it turned out, was a top-level research arm. Mechanical, scientific, chemical- if it could be experimented with or on it passed through Astana at some point. The best and brightest of Hydra all in one spot- and they were going to do their best to take control.

Natasha's assessment of Tony wasn't promising, and frankly Steve fought alone for so long it didn't seem appropriate to bring them into this fight now. He and Sam were going to Astana with only the two of them- and neither were bullet proof like Thor or apparently immortal like the Hulk. Even an Iron Man suit would provide some added level of comfort, but Steve wasn't about to trust Stark to help them on anything- not just after he found out the guy they were hunting killed his parents.

Sam spent the flight socializing while Steve and Tripp swapped more stories of Gabe Jones. Fitz mostly kept to himself in the lounge of the Bus. He would attempt conversation- particularly when Simmons was watching- but he was unconfident and uneasy around such a large group.

Simmons and Skye were keeping busy in the corner discussing someone named "Ward" in hushed tones. Sam ambled over to the girls and joined in their conversation, "Sorry, I couldn't help but overhear, you're looking for someone too? We might be able to help, we do kind of owe you."

Skye was always open to any and all help on the Ward front, "Totally! Grant Ward used to be a member of our team, turned out to be a Hydra agent- you know what that's like."

"Actually I'm not SHIELD- not really," Skye and Simmons were both surprised at that.

"Weren't you one of Captain Rogers' support crew members?"

He shook his head, "I met him jogging. We ran the same route. Well, I _ran_, he sort of flies past me… Fury made me an Agent at some point after I became an Avenger, but I'm really not sure what that means."

"So then, how did you go from jogging buddies to partners taking down Hydra's big Doomsday plan?" Simmons was incredulous.

Sam shrugged, "He turned up on my back porch with Natasha- Agent Romanov- looking for a place to lay low. Fury was dead, SHIELD agents were trying to kill them, and I made them waffles."

Skye waited for more, the story couldn't be finished just like that, "And?"

"And I showed Steve and Romanov what I worked on back when I was a soldier. Project Falcon. We took it from there and two days later the Triskellion happened."

"Wait," Simmons was dumbfounded, "He finds out SHIELD is infested by Hydra and _Captain America_, Leader of the Avengers, doesn't go to his team for help, but a man he met _jogging_?!"

"And if you think that's scary he only learned my name like a day before."

"Now that's trust," Skye laughed, "and you've been running ever since?"

"Pretty much, yeah. We've done a couple of stints in Avengers Tower for repairs to my wings, but otherwise we've been hunting. We can't get help from the Avengers just yet- it's kind of a tricky situation. The Winter Soldier is the one who arranged Howard and Maria Stark's accident. If we didn't figure out how Bucky was controlled and _Stark_ found out Steve's buddy was the Winter Soldier? It could have gotten ugly, fast- so we've mostly kept to ourselves."

Simmons understood immediately, "That's why you needed pictures of the chair. To show to Tony Stark?" Sam nodded, "Do you think he will understand?" she was genuinely concerned for Bucky now.

Sam's mood took an abruptly somber shift, "Honestly? No idea. I barely know Tony, and I can't even begin to imagine what this is like for him. First you find out your parents were murdered, then that they were murdered by one of his dad's own friends, and you're not even allowed to get pissed off and hunt the bastard down because, as it turns out, he was just another victim of Hydra… If Bucky is going to be able to go to Avengers Tower isn't even the biggest question on our list- it's if Steve and I will have to go underground entirely…"

This was the first time Sam voiced his fears aloud- that finding Bucky was only part of the battle. Steve acted like it was an endgame, the finale. _Of course_ they'd all skip off into the goddamn sunset and even _Stark_ would welcome Bucky in without any worries. 'Project: Echo' would be forgotten and Steve's world would be a bit less lonely with his old friend and brother in it.

_I wish I had his faith_, Sam looked down at his hands. He teased Steve about his eternal pessimism, but what Cap saw as a finale to a horror story he saw only as the beginning to something else. Tony was a good guy, but stubborn. He wasn't the forgive-and-forget type, and how many more families had Bucky torn apart for Hydra? How many people were out for his blood? What about Bucky himself? The psychological fallout was terrifying enough to imagine. What if they never caught up with him though? Sure, he stole a file, but it might have been insignificant in whatever his grand scheme was- collect reports on all his missions to try and jog his broken mind. It didn't mean he was hunting for 'Project: Echo' specifically. It might mean nothing to him at all.

Steve was a pessimist with an optimistic outlook, Sam was the optimist with the pessimistic outlook. When the hell had that happened? Somewhere in the 8 months of frenzied searches and half-planned raids they'd switched places.

"What's up, Mopey?" the pitch and volume of Sam's scream would have been funnier to Skye if she hadn't done basically the same thing when Natasha Romanov, Black Widow of the Avengers, suddenly plopped down on the couch next to Sam. Steve laughed so hard at the commotion he fell out of his own chair as several SHIELD agents hastily drew, then just as quickly holstered, their weapons.

Natasha winced and scratched her ear to clear the ringing, "Where the hell did you come from?!" Sam sounded angrier than he intended due to an overwhelming case of embarrassment (Steve wasn't helping).

"I'm bored, you need backup, ipso-facto I'm here."

"_When_ did you get here?!" Sam was _positive_ he would have noticed Natasha and her bright red hair getting on the plane with the SHIELD agents- especially since it seemed to have doubled in length since he last saw her. Her tactical suit was _unique_ to say the least- between the two he was either blind or she was a teleporter.

Steve wandered over as his giggles subsided and shook Natasha's hand. He'd seen as much as Sam- all's completely normal on the plane, the next second Natasha was just _there_. Unlike Sam though he knew how to _contain_ his surprise (but not his laughter).

"How's it going Steve?"

"That depends. How's Stark taking the news?"

Natasha winked at Sam- she had a good idea of what he was worrying over, "He's upset, and we had to override JARVIS' systems a couple of times, but once he took a good, long look at that picture of the Chair from Alaska he changed his tune. You know Stark- he could probably build one of his own by now, and he sure as hell knows what it was used for. Still, I'd keep his exposure to Bucky on a strictly supervised basis for the first few weeks. He won't try anything, but you don't want to push Tony's buttons or else there will be magnets in all the doors."

"Keep Bucky- what?" Sam was confused, "Natasha, I think you miss-understood what I said over comms. We've got a lead on some old case file, we still don't know where the hell Bucky is."

A trickster's glint lit up her eyes, "I put a few of my contacts in Kazakhstan on high alert for anything unusual- no specifics, naturally. An hour ago one of my favorite little Baursaki street vendors called to report a homeless man wandering through Astana towards the hills. Not unusual on its own, but apparently this particular man was covered in dried blood and his _left arm_ was literally burning a hole through his jacket. Now, I've traveled a bit in my time, but are sparking homeless men commonplace in Europe Steve?"

"Bucky's in Kazakhstan?!" Steve's excitement couldn't be masked.

"We've been in the air for six hours…"

"Bucky's in Kazakhstan," Natasha ignored Sam and nodded to Steve, smiling herself now. The man's honest, open joy was contagious. Eight hard months of searching were taking one hell of a toll- on both Avengers- but Steve in particular showed it. Now there was a silver lining, _more_ than a simple glint of hope! She was glad she'd delivered the message in person rather than over comms, if only to see the face he was making- and the overwhelming confusion coming from Sam, "We can bring him in and end this. _Today_."

Hope after so long without any overwhelmed Steve. Just as he had done with Skye, Steve pulled Natasha to her feet and gave her a warm hug, "I can't even- it's hard to imagine this ending!" As he released her his face was plastered with a dopey grin. His best friend, a link to a life long lost (fittingly a link through someone even longer lost) - and he'd get it _today_.

"Six hours…"

"Well, do you think he'll be, like, waiting?" Skye was excited, "Maybe he brought everyone here intentionally! Take out some top-level Hydra scumbag and break the bastards once and for all, then he goes home with the Avengers!"

Simmons was more apprehensive, "He's experienced major traumas for an extended period of time, thanks to that chair. IF he's learning who he was he may be unstable. Throwing him in the Bus' holding cells won't help, and we're not equipped to contain someone with his _alleged_ abilities back at the base. I mean, Fitz might be able to work on his arm and repair whatever damage there is, but-"

"We won't be coming back in the jet," Natasha confirmed, "and I'm willing to bet Tony will be curious enough that he's willing to take a look at the arm himself. We'll figure it out at the party."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Steve's concern was immediate, "party? Nat, we don't know what condition he's going to be in or how responsive. A party is absolutely out of the question-"

"Dinner party, a small one," she promised, "Avengers and Bucky only. No one's even bringing a date- not even Pepper is coming. It's a welcome reception for Thor, actually…"

"Thor's back?"

"Steve- six hours."

Natasha continued to ignore the dazed and confused Sam, "Odin appointed him the official Ambassador to Midgard. He's almost done unpacking- he sent for something to help with Bucky."

"OK, even so, we may have to keep Bucky locked up, Nat. A party isn't-"

"Nope, no arguing," Natasha held up a hand. "Everyone wants to help- and they will have to in different ways. You and Thor will be just about the only ones who can safely contain him if he lashes out, Tony fixes the arm- but remember not to leave them alone together, Banner runs his tests and figures out what Zola did to him in 1943 and what Hydra did to him after he 'died', Sam's got experience with PTSD cases, and Clint and I are well-versed in deprogramming. We'll also be the ones making sure he doesn't leave the Tower. He needs to know them all and the sooner the better. Besides- I guarantee you if you put a feast in front of him he eats more than Thor. I'm willing to put $200 on that."

"He can eat without a party," Steve protested, "You know how crazy the others get Natasha! Tony will try to drink Thor under the table, Banner will probably be the one mixing drinks, and Clint will be forcing everyone to sing karaoke! It's a horrible environment for someone who's been tortured, traumatized, and spent eight months on the run annihilating Hydra bases. It would overwhelm him. Trust me- I was there the _first_ time I got him back from Zola- he wouldn't even sit with the 107th in the bar and as soon as we got back he found a corner to hide himself in!"

"I bet you another $100 you're worrying over nothing. Tony and Thor swore to save the competition for another night and I had JARVIS change the password on the karaoke system so Clint can't even start. It'll be dinner and dessert, that's all. No games, no roughhousing. I made them swear on their pinkies."

"You mean pinky-swear?"

"I know what I said," she mimed breaking an imaginary pinky finger.

Sam was finally fed up with the entire conversation (not to mention being ignored). He threw his arms up in the air and shouted, "Am I the only one who heard her say she decided to come an hour ago?!"

Steve was confused by his abrupt outburst, "Yeah Sam, we know, we're here too."

"What's wrong with that?" Skye wasn't following either.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact that we've BEEN IN THE AIR FOR SIX?! _How did you get here?!_"

Steve's mouth fell open and he turned back to stare at Natasha along with the equally amazed Skye and Simmons, "Wait- he's right! How are you here?!"

"Irrelevant-"Natasha waved him off, "You'll find out eventually. Now, where's Agent May hiding? We've got some catching up to do…" she wandered off leaving three confused people (and one grumpy) in her wake.

* * *

Nestled in the rolling hills outside of the Kazakh capital of Astana was a simple storm drain- nothing much to look at on a normal day. Except today there were people running for their lives from it. Guards lined the drain with their rifles pointed inwards, covering fleeing scientists. They barely even turned with the cloaked jet's turbines were within hearing distance. Whatever Bucky was doing here, he'd already made his presence felt.

With the exception of Agent May SHIELD's best, brightest, and most lethal were gathered in the cargo hold readying for a fight. Steve, Sam, Natasha, Tripp, and Skye were slightly separate. Unlike the main force they were now the hunting party. Any plans to clear the base were gone the moment Natasha received confirmation of Bucky's presence in Kazakhstan. Now the parameters were different: Strike team goes in, the rest hold until the first level is cleared, and then they stick to their floor while the others aim lower in the building until they find Bucky. Once he and the Avengers were out of the way the rest would be free to take the base. Bucky might not be able to differentiate SHIELD from Hydra, so the new game plan was their best bet to protect their SHIELD allies.

For the last time Steve briefed the collected agents before they made their move, "This is a Hydra containment and experimentation facility," he had to shout as the landing gear lowered and they began a slow descent to the ground, "if you take prisoners, make sure they are secure! Anyone who surrenders _should not_ be trusted, and that includes any so-called test subjects! Hydra works with volunteers as often as they do prisoners, don't let yourself be tricked into mistaking one for the other! Your Agent Ivanou was kind enough to give us blueprints, but we still don't know where the Winter Soldier may be. He could be just inside those doors or in the deepest, darkest corners of that facility, so do not assume your path is going to be clear!"

"We'll be making the initial entry into the facility," Sam was all business now, "while we aim to soften this place up as much as possible for you, our priority as soon as we find our guy is going to be getting him out of here to a secure location, even if we have to leave mid-sweep. Like Steve said- he could be just inside that drain or the back-ass corner of the base."

"Agents Brett and Wong will guard Simmons should we need medical assistance," Steve pointed out two he'd met in-flight. According to Coulson (who was back at the base) they were the weakest fighters of the team but some of the best shooters. As Simmons' guide it was less likely they'd see any combat, but if they did the attackers wouldn't get close enough to harm her, "No one waste her time by getting shot or stabbed or blown up- we aim for you all to walk out of here today!"

"If, for whatever reason, you find yourself in that facility before we've cleared it I have to remind you- the Winter Soldier is _not_ to be approached by _anyone_ except for Captain Rogers or myself," Natasha announced. "If he comes at you drop all weapons and get out of his way- fast. It doesn't matter if he's in a cell with his back to you and you have a hand on the door controls- DO. NOT. ENGAGE. We don't know his mental condition and if he thinks you're a threat you won't survive long enough to scream."

"You'll know him by his left arm- made entirely of metal and probably damaged. If you see him contact us via radio beginning with _ONLY_ 'Steve Rogers' or 'Captain Rogers'. Chances are better he knows me by my name than 'Captain America'. DO NOT just say 'I found him'. If he even _thinks _you're Hydra he _will_ shoot to kill and you can bet your ass he won't miss!"

Natasha wrapped up the briefing as the jet landed and May activated the defense systems, "We will be taking the Winter Soldier into custody by alternative means, so this is goodbye from us. We will check in later to make sure everyone makes it out. If you don't, I will _personally _drag your sorry ass back from the pearly gates and kick it to next week!" There were a few chuckles at that. Natasha glanced at Sam who winked slyly. She'd never let anyone go into a fight with too serious a mindset- a morale booster she learned from Clint.

The infiltration team stepped forward. A barrage of gunfire from the turrets eliminated the horde of scientists and security personnel running towards the distant jet in a desperate attempt to escape whatever what happening within. Few bases were as large or as active as Hydra Facility Astana. That many guards, that much technology, and Bucky had them literally running for the hills. As excited as Steve and Sam were at the prospect of finally ending their hunt there was also a healthy dose of dread.

"Skye, Trip, and Sam- use the Night-Night guns only as a last resort," Steve reminded them for the hundredth time, "there's no guarantee that whatever Hydra did to him-"

"-won't interfere with the dendrotoxin and therefore will probably only piss him off?" Skye paraphrased with a wink. At her request Coulson had told the Avengers nothing of her abilities. She appreciated that he was just worried about the non-supersoldier or superspy members of the team, but if it turned into a fight she was confident she could drop the ceiling on Bucky. At least it would slow him down.

"Yeah, sorry," Steve's nerves were growing the longer they waited.

"Get ready," Natasha called out. Sam wasn't sure what she heard but only a few seconds later the ramp lowered and the cargo hold was open, "time to go to work kids."

The hills outside of Astana were all dead grass and soft inclines- great if you're worried about your enemies trying to sneak up on you, shit if _you're_ the enemy. The team was totally exposed as they sprinted the half mile back towards the storm drain. Bodies littered the field but more Hydra agents poured from within. Any who knelt in surrender would be taken into custody- but the Bus only had so much room. Whatever had the scientists spooked was sending them running without thought or reason- so the jet's defense systems eliminated them. Agent Ivanou had sent word with the blueprints to remain on high alert- these people did things that would make Mengele shudder, Steve eyed the corpses with contempt as they dove past.

Scientists, maintenance, doctors, cooks, launderers, service personnel- Steve was fine with leaving those to Agent May and SHIELD. The feisty-looking ones Natasha hamstringed before the Bus' bullets reached them- they at least deserved questioning before they died. To remove any moral questions for SHIELD Natasha kept her blades coated in a slow-acting toxin. They'd get 48 hours to get their intel, then the scientists would die.

No one would ever accuse her of having a flashy hero name- she _was_ the Black Widow.

The first wave of guards fell under the SHIELD suppression fire, but as Steve, Sam, Natasha, Skye, and Tripp closed the gap the firing moved away from them and more guards appeared to hold the door. Natasha opened fire on a line of them to the left as Steve threw his shield to the right. Sam was a superior shot- but his biggest strength was in hand-to-hand and infiltration- once they were inside it was his job to access the security bay and direct the others to Bucky.

Natasha ran ahead as Steve caught his shield and opened fire on the ceiling. It had the desired effect- the crowd hesitated long enough for the troop to get in through the narrow door without being trampled.

Inside the Hydra facility it was chaos. Half the scientists were running for the doors, half for security checkpoints, and the guards were divided between covering people as they fled and stopping them from leaving. The Winter Soldier was a force of nature- but _this_ much chaos? These people looked like they were afraid of something more than one man. Even Natasha couldn't inspire this level of crazed panic. No two groups were even running in the same direction…

"Stay alert, Bucky might not be the only thing in here," at least in the crush of bodies the guards didn't care that a joint Avengers and SHIELD strike team was coming in- at least not until the group began to open fire on them. Steve targeted anyone in his path- scientists and guard alike. He tried to keep fatalities high and casualties low. In his book Hydra was no better than roaches. They only deserved death. For 70 years they thrived while he slept, now he was making his presence known. They should have killed him before the ice finished melting.

"Keep up the pace," Natasha was the only one who didn't even break stride as they began to fight. She made herself the lead in their group and crippled anyone within reach. There were times when showing mercy to your enemies was the right path. This wasn't one of those. SHIELD didn't have the resources it would need to hold them and it wasn't worth risking leaving some Zola-wannabe on the loose.

At the first fork, some hundred yards into the base, Steve pinned a guard against the wall and dealt a fatal blow to the man's neck with his shield. Natasha spared a glance at Sam. He understood her question and nodded. Sam couldn't figure out _how_ she got on the damned jet, but he knew why she came- to see if Steve was as uncharacteristically brutal as reported. If they missed Bucky, if his hunt went on much longer, there would be bigger problems. Steve was running himself beyond even _his_ endurance and it showed in the violence with which he executed his enemies.

"Sam, go left with Skye and Tripp, we'll head this way. If you find the security room great, but our priority is getting to Bucky. See a chance to find him- take it."

"The security room _is _our best chance," Natasha objected.

"Do you don't see what's going on here?!" Steve snapped, "We're not the only ones attacking! Finding the security room may be a pointless waste of time and we don't-"

"I get it," Sam cut Steve off and peeled away. He knew enough about strategy and timing to make his own calls, and Steve was a big enough boy to get over it when his plans were scrapped. "See you on the other side! Don't die!"

* * *

An hour and a half later Steve was alone somewhere in the second level living quarters. Natasha had long since split off and no one was on comms. It had become a mindless cycle of opening doors, clearing the rooms (if the inhabitants tried to fight), locking the rooms from the outside, and moving on. SHIELD controlled the first level, but resistance was lighter by the second as the infiltration team progressed.

The last report Steve received had been from Sam when he finally reached the security room to learn from a disemboweled security guard that Bucky had already gone through and smashed the monitors. At least, Steve hoped it was Bucky. The guard wasn't quite able to say, what with half his tongue pulled out. He had no chance of being saved, so Sam pulled out his gun and gave the man a quick death. He'd been silent ever since.

Something was definitely in the base besides the infiltrators and their quarry. Steve had a feeling something was creeping behind him, just out of sight. He was constantly on-edge, and the deep gashes in the walls weren't helping. He noticed it first in a room of scientists who'd surrendered flat-out: four long scratches that began in the wall and continued down through the metal headboard. When he'd looked back at the cowering lab techs one had explained the room belonged to a guard several years before- one morning they just found him torn apart. The scratches were the only clue.

More and more Steve was finding signs of a beast attacking in the halls. Those first marks were old but he had a feeling some of them were fresh- the Ghost of Astana (as the tech dubbed it) was apparently back. Fresh chips of stone on the floors was merely the first clue- dripping silver goo was the other. _That_ was why Steve had SHIELD move in early. Simmons was busy collecting as many samples as possible.

Steve braced himself and opened the last door in the hallway. Any worries about a mysterious beast were cast aside at the first sign of what was on the other side. A half-dozen armed guards were arrayed around the door in a half-circle. Steve found the storage room. _Yay_.

Immediately he folded himself behind the shield and waited until the deafening _pings_ of bullets stopped. The ricochet took out two (judging by the screams) and the second the men stopped firing he was up and diving into the group. Two had indeed been injured, but they still threw blades to give their buddies time to reload. As Steve ducked a throwing knife he brought up his shield to break the elbow of an armed soldier. The problem with his abilities and fighting while tired was that he tended to misjudge his super-strength. Between spinning away to dodge the knife while still holding the man's arm and his sharp uppercut with the shield he ended up severing the limb entirely.

_Oh well, he was Hydra after all_. Steve grabbed the screaming man's head and snapped his neck.

The fighting was cathartic and helped Cap release his frustration. He threw the shield at two men directly across from him in the cramped room. They couldn't move out of the way quickly enough thanks to the crates stacked floor-to-ceiling and in such close quarters the shield was lethal. It took off one man's head entirely and severed the throat of the other. Steve didn't waste time watching them die. HE grabbed the last standing man and used him as a shield to absorb three blades from one of the injured guards.

"Steve Rogers? Captain Rogers? D-do you r-read?"

"Give me a second!" Steve ignored Tripp's voice and fired on the injured man and his partner, then snapped the final guard's neck.

"A-alright. I can h-hear you're fighting H-hydra. I will w-wait."

Tripp's voice was thin and reedy, he was hurt. Between that and the unusual sentence structure Steve's stomach dropped while his heart swelled. Good news _and_ bad. The grandson of one of his closest friends in his old life was injured, but by the sounds of it he'd found another long lost ally. He yanked his shield out of the crates it had been embedded in and began to race back through the halls to the first junction the team split up at, "Tripp, give me directions to your location!"

His sigh of relief was cut off abruptly by a wheeze and a hiss of pain, "S-Steve, my location is as f-follows: right, right l-left, right left, left, d-down three levels, left, right, then the third right. F-follow the b-blood from there for a right a-and two lefts."

"Is he with you?" Natasha rocketed out of the hallway ahead of Steve. She was nowhere near as bloody as he was, but he had no doubt she took out more agents.

"Y-yes," Tripp was having trouble breathing. Steve kicked up his speed as much as he could. He wasn't worried about whatever creature prowled the base (though he saw scientists in a side hallway freshly mauled), he was worried about Bucky hurting Tripp- Gabe's own grandson- before he could talk him down. If he did that it wouldn't matter how much help they got him, he'd never forgive himself. He'd feel enough guilt over Howard's death, he didn't need this blood on his hands too.

"Almost there!" Natasha was keeping ahead of Steve but when Sam and Skye appeared from opposite halls near the stairs she fell back to run with them. Down in Level 4 the halls were longer and more grid-like. Steve led them down through the first left, then froze.

These halls were different. They were _significantly_ damaged. Silver liquid oozed from the ceiling and floors where the concrete was ground to uneven rubble. Natasha couldn't even hide her fear. Pieces of bodies were strewn everywhere- some parts were dangling from torn-out lights. The largest solid piece Steve could see was the size of a fist, the longest chunks were, of course, intestines.

"Holy shit," Sam wasn't sure what else to say. There were no shoeprints in the silver bog- this all happened _after_ Tripp and Bucky came through.

"Stay here and cover our escape route," Steve ordered. He was eyeing the ajar door on the right side of the hall, "advise SHIELD we will need Simmons- Skye, you're in charge of escorting her down with a stretcher. Tripp doesn't sound good and he mentioned blood. Also- I know we didn't bring anything too big but Skye, if you know a way to bury this place I suggest you get ready. The safest option may be to blow this place to hell. Sam- if Tripp can't walk out of there on his own I'll send for you. Natasha- does our way out have anything to do with JARVIS?"

"Yes."

"Good. Tell him to get our ride ready and if you see or hear _anything_ unusual call me immediately, alright?"

"Got it, go."

He was apprehensive about letting his boots touch the slime, but there was no clear path to the door. Steve stepped on it gingerly. It was slippery, but he didn't see smoke or smell burning rubber. As quickly as he was able to he made it to the door and edged through.

Most lights were out in the next hallway, and it wasn't comforting to find out the silver veins glowed the in dark. Hair rose on the back of his neck but Steve didn't turn to check the shadows, it would only make him more anxious. He continued forward- even though he could _feel_ breath on the back of his neck (or at least he was freaked out enough to imagine he could).

Just through the third door on the right Steve saw a splash of blood on the wall and the body of a guard. Tripp had been shot. The guard's neck was broken but his gun hadn't been kicked out of his hand. A puddle of blood indicated Tripp had fallen to the ground- but from there it was smudged and streaked down the hall. No silver liquid oozed from these walls, and the sensation of being followed was gone.

Steve focused on what was in front of him and the problems Bucky might pose to Tripp's rescue rather than a possible Hydra animal loose in the halls. Bucky had followed Tripp in, killed the guard, and then dragged his friend down the hallway. According to the metal plaque outside the door they were in "Research Lab 6". There was a meeting room on one side and several filing cabinets- but the entire place was empty. The drawers to the cabinets were ripped out and nothing was inside- the guard who shot Tripp wasn't significantly armed. Steve was willing to bet he was a simple security officer to babysit the hallways. The air was close in the lab, stale. In an active Hydra facility why would there be an empty, abandoned room?

He went down a side hall on the right and saw a light ahead. Steve walked slowly and listened hard. A headache was just blooming behind his eyes, and he had a feeling the further he went the worse it would get. There was a scratch of an old speaker in the distance and a distortion to the normal ambient noise- like a television left on without any picture on the screen.

Steve used the back of his shield to see around the corner as much as possible. When he detected no movement he inched into the first room. A row of computer monitors on his right were inactive, but labels above them read 'Heartrate', 'Blood Pressure', 'Blood Oxygen', 'Brainwaves', and 'Alerts'. Medical monitoring? On the left was a shorter row of monitors, a few panels of switches, and a very large one-way mirror.

The cell Steve looked in on was enough to give him chills. Chains hung from the ceiling in the back right corner and was fitted with rusty metal cuffs, drains encrusted with god knows what were set all around the room with four set in an indentation under a large, clear table- which Bucky had Tripp pinned to at the moment. The walls and ceiling were fitted with lights, but a row of them seemed to have been torn out at the very back and through them Steve could just barely tell a large room was hidden.

Bucky watched the door with a level of fanatic determination that made Steve unsure. His nose was curled up into a snarl, yet his head wobbled slightly. He wasn't the calm, cool assassin that Steve last saw. He was bloody, disheveled, and barely able to stand on his own two feet. The metal arm had burned off the left sleeve of his thin coat entirely and occasional sparks still shot from it. The whole unit had bits of wires or this slivers of metal poking from between the vibranium plates. Long, greasy hair partially covered his eyes. He looked more like a rabid animal than a human.

Steve walked slowly across the room to the door. One-way didn't mean it wasn't see-through, especially since the control room had lights on in it as well, and he didn't want to give Bucky any reason to harm Tripp. He entered with his shield secure on his back and his hands up. Bucky jumped slightly and Tripp groaned- the metal hand was closed around his throat, locking him in place. The boy was gray-skinned from blood loss, and that frightened Steve more than the glint of insanity in Bucky's eyes.

"Bucky," he spoke softly without threat or challenge, "please, let him go. He needs a doctor. Let my people take him out of here, then we can talk. Just you and me." Steve slowly removed his shield and set it by the door, then inched to the far left corner. He kept his hands out to the side, "I swear I won't leave. That's Tripp Jones- Gabe's grandson. Do you remember Gabe? He was your _friend_, one of our Howling Commandos."

Bucky didn't even look like he could understand what Steve was saying. The stench of dried gore, sweat, animal dung, and who knows what other odors accrued from his lifestyle since leaving Hydra's ranks was overpowering. A spray of sparks near his neck made Tripp cry out and seemed to jar Bucky to life, "He goes. You stay." His rough mumble was barely intelligible. How long had it been since he'd spoken?

"OK, that's fine. Can I have someone come get him?"

Again, it took Bucky a long time to respond. When he did it was by drawing an old hunting knife. Steve held his breath as he slid the blade between Tripp's neck and his metal hand, then pried his fingers loose. As soon as he re-sheathed the blade and pulled the wrecked arm away Tripp began to gasp and cough. There were cuts from the blade on his throat, but nothing too severe, "Call your person, then come here." He backed into the corner opposite the chains and pulled the blade back out. Bucky set it in his metal hand and squeezed the fingers half-closed before using his human hand to close his fist and secure the knife. He looked up at Steve expectantly.

"Sam, come get Tripp now, then get him up to Simmons as quickly as possible," Steve walked towards Bucky slowly. As he got closer his old friend seemed to get more anxious. Steve's headache was reaching epic heights- whatever was affecting him, was Bucky getting it too?

When Sam ran into the room Bucky lunged at Steve, spun him around to face his friend, and held the blade to his throat. He kept him firmly locked in place as a human shield as Sam scooped Tripp up off the table and glanced back.

"I'm alright, go," Sam nodded and got Tripp out. "Thank you Bucky," Steve let out the breath he'd been holding.

Bucky spun him around so that they were facing one another, but kept the blade to his throat, "You help people?"

"I try my best, Buck."

He looked confused, lost, and sad. Bucky walked away from Steve to the far side of the table and stared at the blood left behind. When he looked up his eyes were over-bright, "Help me find her." He was desperate.

"Find who?"

"Echo," Bucky pulled a folder from the back of his jeans and set it on a dry part of the table. He opened it to reveal a few _hundred_ pages, all warped from his swim and many layered in dirt or torn and wrinkled. The fruits of his hunt- and everything was redacted as all hell. He'd been trying to recreate the 'Project: Echo' files but all he'd found was useless lines of text blacked out with a sharpie.

"Yes," Steve didn't even pause to consider it, "deal. Of course. We'll do everything we can, I swear on my life!"

"I get to help too!" Bucky was suddenly angry, "You can't just lock me up and shock my brain and starve me until I forget again! I'll kill you first!" he took a step around the table.

"Bucky!" Steve held his hands up and stopped the assassin in his tracks, heartbroken, "I would _never_ do that. I'm not Hydra, I'm your _friend_. Do you remember back when we fought _together_? We're allies, not enemies!" If Bucky didn't know on his own then he may still remember the exhibit, "I swear it'll be like old times, like before. You and me, until the end of the line- do you remember that?"

This time Bucky took a long, hard look around the room, as if waiting for some kind of trap- or perhaps seeing phantoms of whatever past he had in this place. He looked down and pried back his metal fingers until the knife fell, "I don't." he looked up and met Steve's eyes, "On your life?" there was a dangerous glint there.

"On my life."

Bucky nodded and Steve stepped forward slowly to retrieve the papers, "We'll find Echo, I promise," he tucked the pages into his suit. Bucky was even more agitated when they were out of sight, "Before we find her we need to go somewhere safe, ok? I'll still help you find Echo, but from a secure base. Somewhere Hydra can't go. Deal?" Again, he wasn't even sure his words were getting through.

"Where?"

Steve considered his phrasing, "Do you remember my friends from the Triskellion?"

Bucky stepped back, then rubbed his head as if it could help him remember, "The man who was here. The assassin-woman?"

"Yes! Very good," a sliver of hope appeared, "they're just two of them. I have more friends, an entire team. We are safe with them, they're _good_ people," _except maybe Stark_, he thought, "they help people, stop bad guys from hurting them-"

"Like me?"

"Like Pierce. Our base is in New York, not too far from where we grew up. Every member of my team is more than capable of finding Echo. I _swear_ Bucky, we _will_ find her and you _will_ be part of that."

"If I go with you then you have ten days to find her. If you don't, I leave on my own."

It was a risky deal to make, considering Steve already knew she was dead, but ten days was enough time to lock Bucky down and start trying to heal him. Once he remembered she was gone they could figure out how to drive out the Winter Soldier and bring Bucky back, "Deal. I'll take you to my friends. They'll come with us to our base. We can start looking tonight, alright?"

Bucky nodded and looked around the room one last time. He waited for Steve to retrieve his shield, then followed him out reluctantly (he acted like he couldn't even see the silver dripping in the halls). Just before they stepped out of the control room Steve could have sworn he saw movement through the split in the wall. A shiver went up his spine.

SHIELD knew they were leaving with Bucky, but Steve could only hope they could bury whatever was loose in the bowels of Hydra Facility Astana.


	6. Chapter 5 (Edited Repost)

**Chapter 5: Safe **

_This is gonna suck_, Steve groaned inwardly as Sam's question was answered- Natasha's mysterious way onto the SHIELD plane mid-air was apparently via one of four remote Iron Man suits (accompanied by some sort of flying container). Tony might not have been happy about his parent's killer coming to the Tower, but he'd given Natasha a way to bring him in faster than any jet… Or he knew a jet would have been _infinitely _easier to get Bucky inside than one of the claustrophobic, form-fitting metal contraptions _guaranteed_ to set off a PTSD episode worthy of the Guinness book.

The suits were open at the back, awaiting passengers. Steve could tell _exactly_ what Bucky was thinking as he edged back towards the door to the facility. Stepping into the mask would be too similar to being in the reprogramming chair. _Stark's a monster_, Steve thought bitterly.

Natasha walked around Bucky and stepped straight into the only red suit in the bunch- the rest were white. It folded around her and, once the suit backing was secure, she turned, "It's this or ride with SHIELD."

At that Bucky froze. To him SHIELD and Hydra must have been synonymous, "I _swear_ you'll be alright," Steve had never been more sincere in his life.

Stone-faced, Bucky stepped forward into one of the white suits. It wasn't as smoothly done was Natasha's entrance- he was shaking, nervous, and Steve had to come help him bend his metal arm to fit it inside. The moment the suit closed behind him Steve and Sam removed their extra gear (for Steve this was his shield, helmet, and the outer layer of armor on his uniform, for Sam it was his goggles and wing unit) and set them with their duffels inside the large case. Steve stepped into the white suit quickly and shivered as it folded around him. He had to focus on keeping his face neutral- Stark had cameras inside every suit and a "Blackmail" folder filled with pictures of the Avengers. Steve wasn't giving him any more ammunition. Clint had pissed him off the other week over a card game and Tony posted a picture of the hero mid-sneeze on his social media accounts.

Foam cushions lining the interior of the suit slowly expanded to match Steve's body shape and secure him inside. The screens in his helmet activated to show a digital map of Kazakhstan and an outline of their flight path, "Welcome Mister Rogers to Remote Suit 17. Please relax your muscles fully to prevent injury while the suits take you on an automated path to Avengers Tower. Flight time is one hour, seventeen minutes arriving at 6:54 in the afternoon New York time. May I interest you in an in-flight beverage?" A straw popped up under his chin.

"No, thanks," the straw vanished and the suit slowly moved Steve's arms into position for takeoff.

"It may interest you to know that you, Mister Wilson, and Mister Barnes are in Master Stark's newest line of medical assistance suits," Steve half-listened to JARVIS as he felt the shudder of takeoff. On the monitor the suits began to move at speeds far exceeding the inertia he was feeling, "He sent these suits for you so that I may run medical and mechanical diagnostics on the three of you in-flight. It will save a great deal of time upon such returns from missions. I am equipped to run blood tests, monitor vital signs, brain waves, complete full-body MRIs and x-rays as well as stitch basic wounds. I also am equipped with a selection of medications based upon what is most commonly utilized by emergency medical professionals."

Steve's interest was piqued, maybe Tony wasn't such a dick after all, "How's Bucky doing then? What kind of shape is he in?"

"Mister Barnes has an elevated heartrate and is currently displaying physiological signs corresponding to claustrophobia and vivid hallucinations. Preliminary results from my blood analysis indicated severe dehydration and chronic malnutrition. I am administering fluids to begin correcting this issue as well as a low dose of sedatives to put him at ease."

"He's not going to be alright with you giving him shots," Steve warned, "he'll try to break out of the suit- flying or no."

"There are currently twelve needles in you taking medical readings and administering medication," JARVIS sounded smug, "you suffer from slight dehydration, low blood sugar, increased heartrate and elevated blood pressure. I am attempting to correct the first two, the other abnormalities are common symptoms of prolonged stress. Mister Wilson has requested acupuncture treatments, which I am also capable of administering should you be interested."

Steve's mouth fell open- he wasn't feeling any of this! Stark, he absolutely hated to admit even silently in his own mind, was a genius, "I think I get now why Tony didn't send a jet…"

"What, you thought I was going to try something with the suits?" A channel opened and Tony came through the helmet speakers. Steve heard foil and crunching- he was eating, of course, "Maybe you were thinking I'd crash Barnes' suit into a mountain? OD him on the drugs? Turn off the air filters and suffocate him?" Stark chuckled abruptly, "Rogers, your heartrate just shot through the roof. Relax, will you?"

"Stark- if you don't want us back at the Tower I'll understand," Steve was nervous, "We can go somewhere else-"

"You hate me that much? I'm touched."

"Natasha told you what he did to… I'm just saying-"

"-we have dinner plans, you're all included in that," Tony cut him off. "I don't know how I feel about all of this, but I won't make a move against Barnes while he's in your custody. If that changes I'll give you a 10 minute head start."

"That's-"_oddly mature, _"really nice of you Tony, I appreciate it."

"Don't get all sappy on me Captain Tight-pants, I'm not heartless, I saw the chair. Besides, if I don't make peace with you then Natasha said she'd find someone else to play with Barnes' arm during the operations."

"What?!" JARVIS' analysis didn't say _anything_ about surgery.

"Uh, duh?" he heard Tony take another bite of whatever it was he was eating, "That arm's wrecked, in case you didn't notice. JARVIS is giving me a scan of it right now and the entire thing needs to be removed. Your boy toy wasn't built for that to happen easily. I mean, I hate to say it but the craftsmanship is impressive- it's a vibranium alloy exoskeleton with Adamantium inner lining- I didn't know there were enough of _either_ of those to make a _toothpick_, much less an arm. _Plus_ they have it patched into his nervous system directly- seriously hardcore science, but the inner mechanics need to be totally gutted if he ever wants to move it again. It's too old and too damaged. Those sparks? Yeah, he gets a shock every time the arm lights up because _that's_ the neural interface shorting out."

Steve shook his head, "So just pop it off- isn't there a release switch somewhere?" granted, he was a bit behind the times when it came to technology but he was fairly certain it was still more common for prosthesis to be _removable_.

"It's a single unit," Tony countered, "grafted to his skin directly." There was a _ping_ as a new scan popped up and he made a sudden choking noise, "Jesus Christ…"

"What?" Tony's line went silent for a long time, but according to the readout in the helmet they were still connected.

Evidently he was silent long enough that JARVIS chose to answer Steve's question himself, "There is evidence in the scar tissue around the shoulder plate as well as x-ray data to indicate there was a struggle during the installation of the mechanical arm."

"He was awake, Rogers, when they burned that thing onto him," Tony looked away from the scans as he got an earful of incredibly colorful 1940s swear words, "JARVIS, record that for future reference," he mumbled.

When Steve was finished he was an entirely new kind of angry, "Did JARVIS tell Bucky about the operation yet?"

"_Operations_, three or four. No- he didn't tell him."

"Good, can you open a channel to his suit and keep quiet?"

Stark forced a laugh to ease his mood, "One of those is extremely likely, the other one is a fool's hope."

"Whatever."

"Mister Rogers, I have opened a communication line."

"Bucky? Can we discuss something before we get to the Tower?"

"What?" Bucky's voice was emotionless, but a slight tremor betrayed him.

"Your arm, it's pretty badly damaged…"

Steve couldn't think of what to say. Bucky thought he was finished so he replied, "I'm aware."

"We have someone who can fix it, but to do that the entire thing will need to be removed, then replaced." He heard a soft, sharp gasp as Bucky realized what that would mean. He remembered how they'd installed it in the first place, it was something he could _never_ forget, no matter how often they'd wiped his mind…

"Hi, mechanic here," Stark came on quickly, "he forgot to mention the part where we sedate you throughout the _entire_ process and I install it so you have _extremely _limited discomfort. When it's all healed up you'll have no pain whatsoever. It hurts when you move, right? That's because they put it on half-assed. When I'm done with it it'll feel just like your other arm."

"I have to find her," Bucky insisted, "I can still fight. I'll follow orders, I won't make another mistake. Don't make me go back to the chair…" he sounded so frightened that even _Tony_ felt sorry for him. He was forgetting where he was- somewhere safe, not a Hydra torture chamber, "I'm sorry I went with them, I'm sorry I failed your test. Please, Director Pierce, I won't disobey again-"

"Bucky- we aren't Hydra! Pierce is _dead_, you _escaped_ and you're _free_. We're taking you back to New York city!"

Tony watched his monitors as Steve talked Bucky down. His heartrate eventually slowed to a more normal pace and his tired, fractured mind moved on, "Kid," he went back on-mic, "this girl, it'll be a week of intel gathering, right?"

"Probably," Steve answered instead, to give Bucky time to cool down, "he gave us ten days Tony, that's the agreement we came to."

"Ten days… Well, even if we found this 'her' in the next five minutes we'd still need a plan of attack to get to her and find out if she's guarded or whatever. It'll be a bitch, but based on your healing abilities Steve it's do-able within four days. Barnes- we'll _sedate_ you, remove the arm entirely, I build you a shoulder plate, new neural interfaces, and redo the innards entirely and we can reattach it _properly_. A two-piece unit that's easier to remove for emergency repairs. The arm itself will take longer, but I think within a week I can have something fight-ready, deal? A _week_ to get you into fighting shape, then we'll get her. The entire time the rest of the team will still be searching and gathering intel."

After a moment, Bucky sighed, "Do I have your word?"

"Kill me if I'm lying, Champ," Stark didn't realize in his current state that Bucky may take that as permission.

"Count on it," he was, as Steve predicted, suddenly ice-cold.

"OK, he's scary," Tony closed Bucky's channel.

"He does have a right to be, you know."

"Well, I'm still glad Pepper's not going to be here while he's coming in. Did Romanov fill you in on the dinner plans?"

"Yeah, and I'm going to owe her a lot of money. It's probably safer to keep him occupied right now before he decides we're Hydra again. These episodes… I don't know how we'll keep him in the building through the night."

"His head is scrambled, it'll take some time. Hydra controlled him for so long he doesn't know how to steer his own ship. He'll be all over the place… By the way, who's this 'her' I just promised to find?"

"I can handle it-"

"So can _we_. Spill."

Steve appreciated his insistence. He was physically and mentally exhausted by the hunt for Bucky and fresh help was a massive relief, "Let's do all that after dinner. I still don't totally follow and he won't tell me much until he sees he can trust me."

This was the longest they'd ever had a civil conversation. It wasn't natural, "How much do you think he remembers? JARVIS just got me his brain scan- the scarring up there is no joke. Someone just about glued him in that chair- he's been shocked _way_ too often… Frankly it's amazing he's not an even _bigger_ wreck. Or a vegetable."

"It's hard to say. He couldn't remember what happened to the girl, but he knew which bases to get the files from. We've got paperwork suggesting he killed her five years ago- and we know he's been in the chair at least a few times since then- obviously something's bleeding through but not everything."

"Wait- his '_her_' is dead? Great, he's going to kill me."

"He remembers _me_, but I don't know to what extent. He was at the Smithsonian exhibit a few months ago. Both long and short-term memory are on the fritz, but he's so obsessed with this case it's hard to get a solid read."

"I'll pass the issue on to Thor," Tony offered, "see if his highness can shake up some Asgardian voodoo to help clear out the cobwebs."

"Alright Stark," Steve was beyond weirded out, "you're being pleasant and helpful."

"So?"

"What do you want?"

Tony laughed, "This isn't me begging, it's gratitude. You're bringing me a new toy to play with! When I'm done his new arm is going to be so fucking-"

"-just fix it. No new gadgets, no Swiss-army-arm, functional is all we want. When Bucky's better you can _ask_ him about upgrades, but that's it. He _barely_ agreed to come in as it is- don't overwhelm him."

"Fine, Captain Ass-hat."

"That's better."

* * *

The flight to Avengers Tower passed without further incident. They landed precisely at 6:54, as promised. Steve felt better than he had in a long time as the suits released their passengers- until he saw Bucky and was reminded this was no time to let his guard down. He had work to do. Another mission.

Bucky kept to the side as the Avengers retrieved their gear from the trunks. He scanned the massive stone balcony and eyeballed the outdoor kitchen as if the grill was hiding an enemy. The sunset was reflected in the eight story tall glass wall before him and Steve suppressed a shudder- the light playing across his friend's face made it look as if the fires of Hell were illuminating him. To Bucky's fried mind he probably _was_ in Hell.

He _did_ look a little better thanks to JARVIS- there was some color in his face and the tremor in his hand was barely noticeable, but he was weary and unsure. The Winter Soldier was stone cold and lethal, Bucky was sassy and kind (and a massive nerd) - but this man? This man was lost somewhere in limbo between the two. He was _hoping_ for an attack because then, in the fight, at least the world would make sense again for a moment.

"The top floor is Natasha and her- and Clint Barton," Steve knew they were dating, but somehow referring to them as boyfriend and girlfriend seemed weird, "next floor down is Tony, then Bruce Banner, Prince Thor, my place, and Sam is third from the bottom, on the guest floor. If you want one one day you could be there too."

"I _want_ to find Echo." He said automatically.

"We will," Sam had no idea what Echo was, he was only playing along because Steve looked exhausted, "I promise. But after we find Echo you-"

"-and _her_," Sam's eyebrows went up at Steve's addition.

"-_and her_, the two of you can stay here. Or not- if she's got somewhere else to go-?" he looked over at his friend who merely shrugged.

"For now you'll stay on my floor," Steve explained, "I've got a few guest rooms, it's nice. _Safe_."

Bucky didn't reply, he just started walking towards the wall of curved glass. Sam patted Steve's shoulder and retrieved his wing unit and duffle from the trunk, "He'll come around, just give him some time to figure out he's not in danger anymore. I'll work with him while he's here. Cases like his- there _are_ no cases like his, but I've still helped a few POWs in my time. If he's up to it, I'll be happy to try my hand."

"Thanks Sam, I really do appreciate everything you've been doing. It's way more than I should have asked of you, and I'm sorry for being such an ass."

"If I found out right as we walked through the door of that Tower that Riley was alive and on the run, you'd find a way to help Bucky and me at the same time. It's what friends do, man," he shook Steve's hand and clapped him on the back.

Natasha caught up with Bucky and opened the balcony door, "This is a good place," she assured him.

"I tried to kill you."

"Yes, you did," she agreed, "and I tried to kill you right back. How many people do you think Hydra made you kill?"

Bucky's face was a mask, but his eyes were sad, "I don't know."

"I killed forty-three for the KGB. Most I don't even remember the names of and that's just the designated targets. Not security guards, assistants, drivers, or just civilians who got in my way. The only difference between you and me is that I was aware of what I was doing. Now, I got to swap my black hat for a white one. If I can turn into one of the good guys with the bloodbath in _my_ wake, so can you."

"How?"

"Accept that nothing you _ever_ do will make up for what you've already done," Natasha shrugged and entered the tower, "Then ignore that and try anyways."

Steve caught the door just before it closed, "You alright Bucky?" he was just standing there, staring blankly at the ground.

He didn't reply, but he walked inside and waited for Steve to lead him on. The lobby of Avengers Tower was huge. The wall of windows ran the entire length of the building and provided a bright, welcome entrance complete with couches, a recessed bar, and a handful of televisions. Doors off the back wall had silver plaques noting 'Labs', 'Medical', 'Gear', 'Training', and 'Meeting Hall'. What Bucky's mind registered though was very different from what Steve and Sam saw.

_Windows: Quadruple-paned, 80mm high velocity round minimum. Clear shot from south end staircase to northern entrance. Floors: Steel, 2cm padding, 1 cm carpeting. Walls: Likely steel reinforced. Hairline seams indicate security features hidden in walls. No visible security cameras, most likely tied to recessed lighting. Facility is too protected for direct assault. Recommendation: Lure outdoors and terminate with prejudice._

He shut the line of thought down as soon as he realized he was assessing it as Hydra would have him do. He didn't need a plan of attack, he needed to know escape routes if they turned on him. Every level above was sealed off, but the balcony came out from the rest of the building at least twenty feet. From the helicopter pad where they'd landed he could probably hook his human arm, swing, and throw himself at an angle that would allow him to grab on to the building below as he fell. The probability he would die with his metal arm fully operational was 78%, without use of it the escape route was suicide. Odds of fighting his way through to that front door and getting out through the lower levels though had a 12% probability of succeeding. He'd been in worse odds. Or, at least, he thought he had…

Going with his instincts gave Bucky odd flashes of something akin to memory. If he tried to grasp at it he knew he'd forget it and be lost again. He was living on the waking edge of a nightmare. It felt like being chronically motion sick. The Hydra memories- even his simple assessment of the Tower, made him nauseous.

"I'm on the fourth floor," Steve prompted. He pointed to the stairs on the far end of the living room as Natasha and Sam headed up, "Just keep going up until-"

"I'm not turning my back on you," Bucky growled. The man had been pushed back once again and the Winter Soldier was holding the controls.

Steve hesitated at the hard look in his eye. He felt a phantom twinge from the scar in his _lower back_ (not _ass_ as Sam insisted) where Bucky shot him eight months prior, "Alright, that's fine. Come with me," he led Bucky over to the step up into the short hallway that hid the wide spiral staircase. He was slow in his movements as he climbed. Usually he jogged up the stairs, but in his current condition anything resembling rushing could set Bucky off. Steve was nervous enough at the soft _hiss_ of JARVIS setting off the air purification systems in their wake.

"Natasha-"he opened a line on comms after passing an air vent that blew Bucky's incredible stench his way.

"Dinner will be ready in an hour. Tony sent Dum-E up to help Bucky clean out the arm and shower. Pepper had an intern run out and grab some new clothes for him. He's got a few changes to pick from for now, he'll get more tomorrow. Tell him to put everything he's wearing in the bag marked 'incinerate'. _Everything. _Shoes too."

"Thank you," Steve wondered, as always, if Natasha was a mind reader.

"I'm not a mind reader, you're just predictable."

"_I'm_ predictable?"

"Extremely," Bucky snapped back from the Winter Soldier abruptly and thought the question had been for him.

"In a good way," Natasha clicked off the comms and Steve stopped on a large landing. He directed Bucky to a simple white door with a miniature of his shield in the center.

"All of our doors are marked with our symbols, so if you ever forget which floor is mine, just look for my shield, alright?"

Bucky nodded and Steve opened the door for him. When Stark Tower was partially destroyed by Loki and the Avengers joined forces Tony re-built it as Avengers Tower with the team in mind. Steve was impressed by his generosity, but even greater was his appreciation when Stark designed their floors with each Avenger's preference in mind.

Steve's apartment was by and large open with his kitchen, dining room, and living room exposed to the front door. Along the back wall and closed off were his bedroom, guest rooms, and a glass-walled gym. As far as wallpaper, furniture, and carpeting were concerned Tony had the crews bring in what he referred to as "Nursing Home Chic"- to Steve it was the perfect reminder of his own time- simple, not too flashy, and _homey_. What Bucky saw was that from any point in the room you had a clear eye line to every door. It wasn't safe, it wasn't secure, and if the gym was any indication then the outer "walls" were nearly as window-heavy as the balcony side of the building (mercifully there were some_ actual_ walls there).

He tried not to look at the handful of pictures on the walls as he made his assessment. They made his vision flicker and his stomach roil even more. He _couldn't_ remember who that group of soldiers was, it wasn't allowed. It would only hurt more…

"My room is there," Steve pointed to a far door, "You are in the guest room," he pointed to another further down, "there is a bathroom in there, fully stocked, and clean clothes. A robot is inside to help clean up your arm. At eight," he indicated a clock on the wall, "we'll go upstairs for dinner and discuss finding Echo, alright?" Bucky only nodded, "Get cleaned up and just put what you have on right now in the red 'incinerate' bag. Anything you don't want to keep, that is."

"Understood," automatically Bucky went into the dining area and retrieved a chair. He carried it to the guest room and closed the door firmly. Steve heard the lock and bolt, then a soft _thud_ as Bucky braced the door with the chair. He sighed and went to his own room to get a shower before dinner. Bucky was all over the place. Steve expected something more like when he'd found him in Red Skull's base the first time- instant recognition and relief. Memory, trust- anything! But he still had to convince his own best friend he wasn't there to electrocute him and destroy his life.

"Rome wasn't built in a day," Natasha came through comms softly.

"Psychic."

"Worry-wart."

* * *

A strange robot with the name "DUM-E" inscribed on it was waiting in the ridiculously large bathroom with a wire brush and full array of cleaning solutions. It moved quickly once Bucky sat on a short wooden stool and removed his layers of jackets and shirts. Dutifully he put everything into the red bag. He had nothing he was worried about keeping- no sentimental tokens were allowed to a piece of Hydra weaponry.

The guest room was nice- _really_ nice. Nicer than even the ones in the expensive hotels where he'd executed foreign diplomats. The bed alone was at least _four_ _times_ the size of the bedroll Hydra gave him and there were _blankets_ on it! A large television took up a chunk of the wall by the door, there was a reading chair and desk along another wall, and even a computer!

Between the dresser and closet he had enough clothes to last him _four_ months on the road (meaning two sets of day-clothes, jackets, underpants, and socks). They'd even given him _pajamas_! He didn't remember the last time he was permitted new clothes and the street clothes he'd been trading homeless people for were the first things he had ever worn that weren't black leather and Kevlar-plated. These clothes even appeared to be new, well-made, and durable- even after four months on the road he wouldn't have any problem with them if he managed to keep them from being ripped or burned. The blankets on the bed were a rare commodity for him to come by- he was _definitely_ grabbing one of those when they threw him out.

Bucky was grateful for the robot's assistance as it cleaned his arm. The failing condition was largely due to the fact that he was never allowed to clean it himself and, after running from his handlers, it had seen little more than a mountain stream- as had the rest of him. He gawked at the bathroom as DUM-E worked quickly and efficiently, moving his metal arm as little as possible. The sink, mirror, and toilet were nothing new- though the fact that the toilet wasn't made out of metal was reassuring. Once, at Hydra Facility Moscow in the dead of winter, the base heating units had blown. Deep in the underbelly it got cold enough that he could see his breath. He showered normally, but then made the mistake of sitting down on the toilet to take a shit and ended up literally freezing his ass to it. The guard who found him sitting there (past when he was supposed to be out) and trying to pry his skin away from the metal pointed and laughed- until Bucky lunged at him and broke his neck. Explaining away the chunks of dead skin on the toilet was worse than reporting _why_ he'd killed his guard.

The shower was what he was most excited about though. After twenty minutes Dum-E chirped and dropped the brush into a bucket of rust-red water and moved out of his way. Bucky stripped his lower half and went to take the shower he'd been daydreaming about. _That_ was nothing short of euphoric. After a life based around cold, hard brutality he couldn't remember the last time he'd been allowed a _hot_ shower (killing Nicholas Fury in Captain America's own apartment had moved Pierce to order he be allowed a warm one). Most of the time Hydra sent him to the prisoner cells where he stood with them against the wall, naked, and a cold hose was turned on. It stung and bit at his flesh, but if he made any motion or sound he'd be punished.

This though couldn't be more different. It was as hot as he could want, the water falling on him almost felt _soft_ and scrubbing the grime and sweat away from his skin made him feel like a different creature entirely- maybe even human. He could almost cry. Bucky washed everywhere he could reach with a hard scrubbing brush and then, just because he could, he went over the same areas _again_ with a soft washcloth. Dum-E reactivated when he was ready for it to scrub his human arm and back for him. After that Bucky washed his hair _three whole times_ and relished in the tingling sensation as grease, gore, blood, and dirt left his matted scalp at long last.

The bottles in the shower were all neatly labeled, but that didn't mean Bucky knew what they were for. The last time he'd been given more than one kind of soap to wash his body and hair was probably before even his time as a soldier outlined on the walls of the Smithsonian- and he had a sneaking suspicion (Steve could confirm) that even before everything Hydra did to him he wouldn't have known what the fuck 'Conditioner' was for. 'Shampoo', 'Body Wash', and 'Face Wash' were easy. He held the bottle up to Dum-E and stared the robot down, willing it to answer him. JARVIS answered via the shower speakers instead, "That is to be used on pre-washed hair and rinsed out completely. Might I suggest, given your current state, that you use _most_ of the bottle?"

Bucky _liked_ conditioner. It made his hair slippery and worked out the tangles enough that he could push it back from his face without getting his hand caught- besides, it took _forever_ to rinse out, so he got to enjoy the hot water a while longer. There wasn't much time left on the bathroom clock before eight, but he was content to just stand there under the water for a few more minutes and watch the steam swirl around him.

_She was strapped to the table with a large tube taped to her mouth. It extended just barely past her teeth. Her arms were bound above her head. She was completely and wholly unable to defend herself. Tears streamed down her cheeks and cut paths through the dried blood. He was shaking, sobbing, and even screaming as he lifted the pitcher of bubbling water to the funnel at the other end of the tube. He hesitated at the sight of the steam swirling in the air. His heart ached for what he was about to do to her. If only she'd just done what he asked… His handler grew impatient and grabbed Bucky's elbow, jerking it up so that the liquid sloshed into the funnel. Her screams turned to horrific gargles and her body thrashed so violently the cuffs sliced into her wrists and ankles. He heard a _pop_ as she dislocated her own arm. His handler only chuckled._

Bucky jumped out of the shower and crashed into Dum-E, sending him flying across the bathroom floor and half into the guest room. He _had_ to find her, they were still hurting her! Bucky yanked the jacket, jeans, and shirts out of the closet and threw them on the bed where they were soon joined by the underwear and socks before he remembered his promise. These people were the _only_ chance he had at finding her. He'd been trying for eight months, he let them catch him in Astana _just_ for this purpose. He had to keep the deal. He did more by staying than by running.

Hesitantly he turned back towards the frantic robot who was trying to follow him with a towel and retrieved from the heap on the bed a t-shirt, jeans, and underclothes. As he picked them up the memory faded away and he was confused- what chased him from his warm shower? He went back into the bathroom alone and closed the door to preserve some of the warmth and humidity, completely oblivious to the cause of his shaking hands and racing heart.

* * *

"Stark, would you grow up? He's already on edge, you're going to set him off!" Natasha was one of many criticizing Tony's decision to arrive for dinner in full Iron Man armor.

"Not to fear, Tony Stark! I shall protect you should the need arise!" Thor teased.

"You let him bring the hammer along!" Tony pointed at Mjolnir sitting on a coat hanger, "What's the big deal? _You_ didn't see his scans practically flashing 'CRAZY'! I don't plan on being slaughtered when _that_ sets him off!" he pointed to a small wooden box sitting atop the hammer.

"Nonsense! As I have said, it-"

"Can we stop arguing?" Banner already had a headache and if these two kept it up a migraine was inevitable.

"As you wish, Doctor Banner," Thor backed down immediately. Unlike Tony he was willing to step down from an argument._ He'd_ been raised with _manners_ (admittedly it was only in the last few years he was using that training).

"Look, I'll sit across from James, that way if he does freak out at least he can't kill me," Banner offered.

"And I shall sit upon his left! That is where the mechanical arm is situated, is it not?"

"Correct," Natasha filled them all in on what she knew about Bucky's capture, torture, and manipulation by Hydra. Thor was the most sympathetic- Jotuns had done very similar things to captured Asgardians during their previous wars and the practice was common enough among other enemies within the realms. He'd hoped once that Loki had been a victim of similar manipulations. Unfortunately, as Tony put it, his brother was 'Just a gigantic male reproductive appendage' (at least, that was the gist of it).

Clint was carrying the first hot plates of food to the table when Steve knocked on the door, "Someone get that!" Banner and Natasha went to help him as Thor answered the summons. Steve, Sam, and Bucky (now wearing clothes that actually _fit_ and smelling nice and clean) entered. As before, Bucky brought up the rear of the group and eyed Thor wearily. He wasn't pleased that he had no shoes for the time being and instead had black slippers on (as did most Avengers, shoes weren't too common _inside_ the Tower). If he had to flee anyone he met on the street would insist on his blanket in trade for a pair of shoes. He was still _in_ the Tower and already he felt like he'd lost that little prize.

"Stark, take it off or I'll break your arm," Natasha called pleasantly as she laid two bowls of garlic bread out.

"Fine! Evil wench," Tony mumbled as he stepped out of the suit. A grape came out of nowhere and smacked him in the back of the head, "OW CLINT!" the man had fucking bat-ears.

"Don't be such a baby."

Banner set a massive bowl of mashed potatoes down and came over to the group to help break the tension (since he was well aware physically he was the least imposing and most non-threatening among the superheroes- unless he was the Hulk), "It's good to see you again Steve, Sam," he shook their hands and held his out to Bucky, "You must be James Barnes. I've heard a lot about you from Steve here."

"You're lying," Bucky eyed him suspiciously and, sensing trouble, Banner stepped back.

"I am Prince Thor of Asgard and I know next to nothing about you!" Thor violated every rule of how to approach a mentally unstable super-soldier assassin prisoner of war laid down minutes ago by Tony (Just one rule: Don't) and quickly lifted him into a traditional Asgardian warrior's greeting. Or, as they said on Midgard, he scooped him up and gave him a bear-hug.

Bucky's disgruntled fury when Thor released him was almost comical, in a run-for-your-life kind of way. Steve saw rage, barely contained, burning in his eyes and he held up a hand to keep Clint and Tony back for a moment. The corner of Bucky's nose twitched into a snarl, then slowly eased back.

"I'm Clint Barton," Clint just waved and went back to bringing out food with Natasha.

Tony stayed by the wall. It was easy to tell himself he was alright with all of this when he got a good picture of what Bucky had been through, but to have his parents' murderer in front of him and be expected to have dinner with him was proving to be another beast entirely. Something about seeing his face, the malice written all over it, he could only manage a nod when Bucky looked over. He felt guilty for not using the suit to turn the Winter Soldier into a _real_ ghost, and he felt bad for thinking of it again just then.

"That's Tony Stark," Steve filled Bucky in, "he built this place. He's the one you talked to in the suit."

Something clicked in Bucky's frayed memory, "Tony Stark… Howard Stark?"

"My father," Tony found his voice, but his mood dipped even lower.

"I killed Howard… He- he was my friend… I killed my friend…" there was an incredible amount of pain in Bucky's voice. He'd always looked up to Howard- admired his engineering before going to the military and after the Howling Commandos formed he and Dum-Dum Duggan made up an odd trio with the man, always running off to try some new experimental tech (and then Dum-Dum would run to grab the medic when it blew up in their faces).

"Natasha said the Winter Soldier killed my family," Tony cleared his throat and looked away, "that's not you, right?"

"I hope not," Bucky's voice was barely audible.

"Yeah, me too."

"Boys? Dinner's ready," Natasha came over to Bucky, "You're at the south end of the table." She patted Tony's arm as she passed him, "You're at the north."

"Thanks," Tony took a seat as far from Bucky as he could.

Clint liked to cook, it gave him an outlet for his stress. Fortunately for the Avengers he'd been _very_ stressed while Natasha was out hunting a psychotic assassin who'd already tried to kill her twice and shot her both times. The dinner he prepared had everything: mashed potatoes, broccoli, squash, garlic bread, corn bread, baked beans, roasted carrots, fried rice, green bean casserole, corn pudding, coleslaw, Asgardian vegetables seasoned with herbs from Alfheim (three guesses who provided those), baked sweet potatoes, fried zucchini, fruit salad, actual salad, _potato_ salad, and at least two pigs worth of baby back ribs boiled, baked, grilled, and smothered in barbecue sauce.

After months of fast food and pizza it was the most beautiful thing Sam and Steve had ever seen or smelled. Thor, who'd never actually seen _or_ smelled these dishes before was mentally mapping out how much he could fit on his plate at once and praying for even a fraction of Volstagg's enormous appetite.

"Well? Eat up!" The Avengers all began to fill their plates, but one by one they noticed very quickly that Bucky did not. He sat between Steve and Thor with his hands in his lap, looking dead ahead and trying to only take slow, shallow breaths to avoid even smelling the feast before them. His stomach rumbled loudly and he shifted uncomfortably, but made no move to take any food.

"Bucky? What's wrong?" Steve didn't understand why he was so frozen. Was it another episode? His scans showed he was starving, he _looked_ like he was starving.

Thor was no stranger to this, "You were not permitted to dine in this manner?" The question was mostly rhetorical.

"I am only allowed what is brought to me in my holding area," Bucky repeated automatically as if speaking to one of his handlers, "Disobedience is punished with two weeks of zero-rations. I am content with what I am given. I-"he seemed to come back to himself and sunk a little lower in his chair, dejected.

"You were starved for accepting food?"

Bucky's nod was almost imperceptible, "Even milk… Director Pierce liked to test me by offering me milk."

"What did you do on missions? These last eight months?" Sam jumped at the chance to get answers from him.

It took a lot of effort to even remember what happened _after_ he left Hydra's control, "No food on missions, only water. Since Hydra… I hunted or stole, only what I absolutely needed. Nothing more, I swear," he took a few hard breaths and his stomach groaned again.

"It's alright," Thor stopped him, "we are your allies James Barnes. Your foes spent much effort and time turning you in to something they wished for you to become. We are not your enemies," he pulled a small green bottle from his pocket and said a silent _thank you_ to himself for thinking to bring it just in case the boy's condition was this dire. The bottle went to Bucky, "Drink that, it will ensure such a feast after so long without will not harm you," he did as he was told and Thor scooped a large spoonful of mashed potatoes onto his plate, "Now, you shall eat as much of as many foods as you desire. Prove to yourself that you are no longer among enemies."

"If it helps," Steve plopped several ribs onto his plate too, "that's an order."

Bucky was by no means comforted but he _was_ starving. Months on the run, fighting, the mental strain of handing himself over to these people- it all took its toll (plus, unknown to him the only side effect of the healing potion Thor provided was an increased appetite (he may not have been thinking _entirely_ of Bucky when he grabbed that after all)). After the first small bite of hot food he couldn't stop himself- he ate ravenously. Hydra fed him mostly protein to retain his muscle mass, but otherwise they kept him lean, hungry, and ready to strike. Now he had the freedom to eat his fill without punishment (unless they were lying and he'd be locked in a cell with no food again). The thought made him hesitate mid-bite. He stared at his fork in horror.

"No trials," Thor nudged him, "you have the word of the Crown Prince of Asgard!" the nudge more than his words (Bucky didn't know where the fuck Asgard was) got him back on track.

When he tried the baked beans Bucky had a brief, fleeting memory of something _before_ Hydra. He remembered cold nights in the mountains of Europe huddling around a fire and eating beans out of a tin cup, laughing and smiling with Steve, Peggy Carter, and his Howling Commandos. She and Steve would slip away to chat sometimes and he'd do his best to keep the men from sneaking along to spy or tease (but he'd laugh loudly at their rude jokes and imitations of what the two may be saying). Here, in this strange place, he had a brief glimpse of that again- family and friends. They weren't the Avengers- they were the Howling Commandos, just in a new time. Did Steve even realize what he'd built? Did he look at Thor and see Dum-Dum Duggan? Did Banner remind him of Montgomery Falsworth? Was Clint Pinky Pinkerton in a new body? He'd even found a Stark for his new family.

Banner coughed softly and grabbed his water for a sip. When Steve glanced at him he tilted the glass ever so slightly in Bucky's direction. Steve looked over in time to see Bucky's small smile as he cast an eye down the table. It raised his friend's spirits exponentially. His grin, then Bucky's, was obvious to everyone.

* * *

It was over dessert (rhubarb, pumpkin, apple, and chocolate pies- each of which Thor was trying to force down a slice of) that Bucky's arm finally shorted out for good. He'd forgotten the damage and tried to lift it to put his napkin up when a violent shower of sparks made him cry out in pain and se Thor's dress shirt on fire. He put it out quickly and without even making a conscious decision to move Tony was up and whistling for the suit to come over. Thor got up and moved his chair out of the way so that Stark could carefully extend the arm away from Bucky's body, "JARVIS, give me a framework, highlight everything damaged as well as the battery."

Bucky looked away as more sparks shot from the metal. He ground his teeth together against the sharp twinge in his shoulder socket and the pins-and-needles feeling from the arm itself. The framework that appeared over the arm showed nothing _but_ damage. It was even more extensive than Tony thought- and he'd already decided it was a gut job, "Hey champ?" he waved and Bucky looked back over, wincing as the shoulder moved, "I can't fix this tonight and you promised we could do what we needed to repair the arm, do you remember that?" it was only a few hours ago but in his condition…

"I-"Bucky frowned, then nodded, "I think so," he rubbed his head, "it's getting quieter in here…" Tony glanced to Thor.

"Alright, well, I can call the doctor, get him in here tomorrow instead of the next day, but for now are you alright with me draining the power source in the interest of fire protection?"

They lost Bucky again for a moment, but at least it was brief. His eyes twitched, his breathing became more rapid, then just as quickly it faded, "I have to find her."

"See all this red?" he indicated the scan, "you just lost the ability to move this arm _at all_. What I'm proposing to do will make what's left of your arm- the stump- cold. You won't have the heat coming off the battery keeping it warm, but that's all. It's already dead. We've got time to fix it before we find the girl."

"You're no good to her if you're trying to learn to fight with just the one working arm," Clint prompted, "let's get you taken care of now so you can get to her later."

Again, Bucky hesitated, "Tony, go ahead," Natasha stood and came over to their end of the table, "while he's working, why don't you tell us about Echo? We'll _all_ help find her."

Tony snapped his fingers and jumper cables came out of the suit. He began bending and twisting Bucky's arm to find seams in the plating for the wires to fit through. Between the vibranium outer skeleton and Adamantium interior it was no easy task. Bucky watched him for a while, weary of another shower of sparks and spasm of pain, "I never knew her name," he began without warning, "or where we captured her… They reprogrammed me so often I-I just don't remember…"

"What _do_ you know?" Clint prompted.

Bucky's eyes were unfocused and far away, "Hydra keeps you hungry, thin. They don't waste food on prisoners… Even so, she actually gained some weight in the torture cells."

"She was malnourished?" Tony's jumpers jolted when they found the power source and began to move on their own to secure it. He asked the question to distract Bucky from the initial shock.

"When he ordered her starved she responded slowly- like she was used to being hungry. She was skin and bones."

"From a third world country- that kind of skin and bones?" Natasha asked.

"Street urchin," Bucky countered, "I took her from a city, no idea where," a cold buzz ran up his metal arm. The remote suit held its hand to the side and activated a thruster to burn the energy from the battery, "When I took her it was winter. It was so, so cold, but even I was more protected than she was."

"North or south of the equator, possibly near a large body of water that would cool the air," Clint nodded to Natasha, "A country would help, but it's a start."

"Keep going," Steve prompted, "you're doing very well."

"I was supposed to make her an asset- something about her was special. There was some ability they wanted, but their normal recruitment techniques… The chair might have had a negative effect on her abilities. We were expressly forbidden from using electricity when we broke her…"

"We found an order form for Dengue Fever," Sam looked down, "Hydra kept you as an assassin. What _exactly_ was your role in 'Project Echo'?"

"Torturer," Bucky's voice came as a low grown that made it all that much worse. He shivered, not only because of the power draining from his arm, "Beatings, starvation, drowning, freezing, burning, skinning, chemicals- it worked, eventually… But we broke her too much."

"What do you mean? Who's 'we'?"

Bucky frowned, tried to force the memories to sharpen, but he couldn't quite grasp it, "I don't remember who my handler was… When she broke it came out of nowhere. Something happened, she- something about her body. A sickness?" he shook his head to clear away the overwhelming pressure behind his eyes. Something snapped and the relative clarity was gone in a flash. He jumped and gaped at his metal arm and the man trying to destroy it.

Thor caught Bucky as he lunged for Tony in a blind rage, "NO JAMES!" he shouted over Bucky's wordless screaming, "JAMES! YOU ARE AMONG FRIENDS! CALM YOURSELF!"

"Bucky!" Steve's voice was familiar enough to cut through the mania and bring him back a little. He stopped fighting and the cables fell out of his arm. It was dead, cold, and useless.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," he slumped back into his chair, drained.

"James, can I ask you one more question about this girl?" Clint kept his voice soft, "How old?" Bucky looked down and murmured something, "We can't find her if we don't know what age we're looking for. How old? My age?"

"Younger."

"Twenty?"

"…Younger."

"Eighteen," Clint was _very_ protective of kids. He'd even clashed with Fury of SHIELD Academy recruiting 16 year old _scientists_. If Hydra was snatching kids off the street…

"Younger," Bucky couldn't meet his eyes. A single tear slid down his cheek, "Maybe- maybe early teens, if that old. I think- I think she might have said once she was fourteen."

Clint swore loudly and Bucky flinched. Steve could see the need for violence in Clint's eyes, "We'll find her," he promised both men, "quickly. I promise."

"I did- I did terrible things. You have to find her. I have to make at least one thing right."

"We'll do what we can, but-"

"NO!" he was working himself up again, "No! You don't understand! I stopped him from killing her, I sold myself to Pierce to protect her! The things they did to make me forget- to punish my failure… They hid her away, kept her alive, I have to get her out! It's my _responsibility_!"

Sam and Steve were the most surprised of the group. She as _dead_, that's what they'd always assumed. If she _wasn't_, if there really was hope, then maybe this wasn't such a lost cause after all.

"We'll find her," Clint's voice was hard- it wasn't even a question to him. A child had no place in Hydra, no matter how old she may be now. They had to find her, free her, and give her a chance to be human- not some robot killing machine like the Winter Soldier.

"Without a means of identification I cannot seek aid from Heimdall, but if you do recall her name I will ask my friend for his guidance. There are none in the Realms who escape his gaze."

Sam's mouth fell open, "Are you telling me we've been looking for Bucky for _eight months_ and-"

Thor nodded, "If you had but asked I would have been pleased to pass your query on. It would have taken moments."

"I blame _you_." He pointed at Steve, but his anger was exaggerated.

"I've tried _so_ hard for _so_ long to remember who she was- if I even ever knew. The chair took everything away."

Thor clapped Bucky on the back, "I have something which may help with that," he raised two fingers and Mjolnir lifted slowly. It came to him as if being cautious of the small box resting upon it. The Avengers waited patiently- only Steve and Sam didn't know what was in the wooden box. Tony inched away and JARVIS kept the suit close to its master. When Mjolnir arrived he set it gently beside his chair and handed the box to Bucky, "Ever since you stepped foot within this room you have improved," he looked to Steve for verification, "your visions are shorter and your mind is clearing, is it not? You said it was getting quieter?"

Bucky nodded, "I'm here longer…"

"Yes," Steve translated, "he isn't having as many episodes as he was earlier. He's-"

"-more focused," Sam offered. He was still in rough shape, but there _was_ a slight improvement.

Thor nodded to Bucky who opened the box. Inside as some sort of pendant on a golden chain. It was an intricate symbol- one he'd never seen before. In the center of it sat a clear, white stone, "Well, diamonds _are_ a girl's best friend." Tony's quip was halfhearted.

"Your condition is unique among Midgardians, yet my people have seen it quite often. Your enemy call themselves Hydra. Ours are called Jotuns. The last we warred they were not unused to capturing our own people and twisting their minds. It was a psychological war- turning our own against us. The Healers of Asgard used these to help bring them back. It may take weeks, even months perhaps, but for good or ill you will remember all you are."

"A villain."

"-_and_ a hero," Thor pointed to the stone, "this will make you remember, if that is what you wish. You may recall worse incidents than that of your Lady Echo, but you _will_ remember."

"Good," Bucky tightened his fist around the medallion, "I can help Hydra remember too."

* * *

"Hey Steve, can I talk to you for a sec?" Tony caught him on the landing of his floor. Bucky was following him, wholly engrossed in studying the amulet.

"Sure, Bucky- you good?" he pushed the door open and stepped aside.

"I'm fine."

"No eating after midnight!" Tony called after the man as he made a beeline for his guest room and began securing the bolts (and chair), "Like any of us will be hungry for a month, right?"

"I'm still worried Thor will burst," it was easy to joke with Stark now that he was full, sleepy, and had something vaguely resembling hope for Bucky's recovery. He closed the apartment door and looked out the window over the balcony. He really had missed New York's skyline, "What's up?"

Tony held out his tablet with some readings, "The power source in Bucky's arm should have been fried the second JARVIS started the burners, so when it didn't he took extra scans. It's not _really_ an issue, I just thought you'd like to know it's _definitely_ Hydra's handiwork- as if there was any doubt."

"Tesseract technology."

"Yep. No worries though, it's depleted now and I'll build the new unit with a mini arc reactor fueling it. The thing will outlast _Thor_."

"Some friends with SHIELD are helping on the 'Echo' files, make sure they never get wind of this. Hill is probably feeding them intel."

"I already updated JARVIS, he'll keep it out of her reach. She's good, but I don't know how far we can trust Coulson's new team." Steve whipped around with his mouth hanging open. Tony mirrored the expression, "Wait- that was RIGHT?!"

"You know?!"

"I was taking a shot in the dark! My next guess was the neighbor-nurse, that Agent Natasha mentioned! Seriously, Coulson?!"

"Don't tell the others," Steve had to insist on that, "not a word!"

Tony nodded, "Yeah, fine, sure. But Coulson?!"

"He promised he died in the Battle of New York. Fury's got some way to bring people back- or did."

"Fury, now that's someone I don't think anyone believes is really dead."

Steve's eyebrows went up, "You _know_ he isn't dead. Natasha _told_ you he helped take down Alexander Pierce."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot."

"You _forgot_ he's _alive_?" Sometimes (OK, most of the time) Tony baffled him.

"Moving on," Tony swapped the topic out for one that didn't make him look like a dork, "I have one more thing to talk to you about, and then you can go to bed. Would it be alright if-"

"No."

"-I put a GPS tracker-"

"No."

"-in Bucky's arm-"

"No."

"-and give him-"

"No."

"- a comm unit?"

"N- Actually, yes to the comm unit. No to anything but being able to move his arm."

"In that case, can I-"

"No."

"-put a _rocket_ in-"

"NO!"

"-his arm so it can-"

"NO."

"-fight by itself?"

"… HELL NO!"

"Think about it!" Tony complained, "He's fighting an enemy, needs help, no one's there, so BOOM! His robo-arm pops off, zooms behind the goon, and now the poor bastard has to fight a _two_ front battle!"

"Goodnight, Tony," Steve rolled his eyes and went into his apartment.

"OK, I'll just make a prototype so you can get an idea what I'm thinking of!"

"JARVIS, Avengers alpha override on all rockets please."

"Yes, sir. Master Stark, any projects including the use of rockets-"

"Yeah, yeah. I heard him. Alpha override, I get it." Before the door closed he called out, "Hey spoil-sport! Check your bank account! You're _welcome_!" He'd buy Steve's loyalty yet! Or, rather, the public would _for_ Tony (who forged Steve's signature on the forms giving Stark Industries permission to manufacture all Captain America merchandise). Every Avenger got a cut of the sales from their gear and the Captain dolls were selling faster than any others (for now, Tony wasn't admitting defeat). While Rogers was chasing Bucky he'd amassed a cute little fortune to the tune of a few million.

"_Nouveau riche_," Tony sighed dramatically when Steve waved and closed the door on him, "_so_ uncultured. He can't even appreciate a nice rocket."

* * *

He was proud of himself for managing to get away from dinner with it in his pocket. When he returned to his room Bucky pulled out the butter knife and set it on the closet floor. He locked the door and bolted it, wedged the kitchen chair under it, and covered the gap in the bottom with towels. Ten minutes was all the time it took to secure the room. It wouldn't stop someone from getting in, but the amount of noise they'd have to make to do it would wake up anyone- and the Winter Soldier was a light sleeper.

The bed was luxuriously huge, but also the first place anyone would aim. Also, thanks to good, old fashioned evolution, most people slept with their feet pointed towards the door so that they could see if someone came in. For that reason he grabbed a pillow off the bed and tossed it on the floor of the closet at the end closer to the foot of the bed. Bucky knew the Avengers wouldn't hurt him, but the Winter Soldier was taking up space in his mind too. Still, the compromise of the two conflicting identities was one that allowed Bucky to at least drag the thick blankets off the bed and make a comfortable, warm nest on the closet floor.

Hydra hated dealing with Asset dental issues so Bucky took only a little comfort in being allowed to brush his teeth (he'd stolen a few toothbrushes while he was on the run even). Once again JARVIS had to help him identify "Mouth Wash" and how exactly to use it (he dipped his toothbrush in it at first). Once he'd finished he was cleaner than he'd ever been before, his mouth was _way_ more minty than he'd ever felt, and he caved at the last minute- Winter Soldier and his infernal readiness for battle be damned he _was_ sleeping in those pajamas!

Bucky curled up in the soft, scented sheets and slid the closet door closed so that only a crack was left for him to watch the bed and door through. He clutched the knife as exhaustion began to overtake him. Since his last, fitful night of sleep huddled in the cargo hold of an airplane he'd walked thirty miles across Astana and it's countryside, fought through dozens of Hydra guards to finally reach ground zero of his nightmares, and handed himself over to the enemy. Though, this enemy was made up of friends who cleaned, fed, clothed, and healed him.

_Alright fine. Maybe they aren't enemies._ Since the crushing disappointment when Astana proved void of the answers he sought the day had actually been steadily getting better. He settled in for the night and clutched the Prince's amulet tightly, willing it to help him finish his mission quickly and remember what happened after 'Project: Echo' was terminated.


	7. Chapter 6

**Location: KGB-Hydra Cooperative Research Facility**

Bucky struggled against the men who dragged him through the halls. The walls dripped, the floor was slick with slime, and the air was dense with the stench of mold. He was freezing, terrified. Where was he? Why did his arm- oh god, his arm.

He remembered how it felt when the pulse slammed into the shield. He wasn't braced for it- his arm wrenched around, flinging the shield away as he felt a strange, sick _pop_. Steve tried to save him, but he fell. He watched the train speed away as he shot down. That was supposed to be the end. Not that Bucky had thought on falling to his death often, but he expected it to simply end- then he'd be wherever people were sent. He didn't expect the wrenching, jagged pain when his left arm hit a ledge and ripped away at the elbow. he didn't expect the mindless agony of survival.

His skin was too pale- his left arm was utterly useless- so what gave it the right to hurt like that? He was screaming, struggling without realizing it. Four men dragged him down the hall towards a dark, rusty door. Not again. He wouldn't be Hydra's toy again- something for them to beat, skin, inject with god knows what. Steve would never let him forget that he had to be saved _twice_.

There was a metal table through the doors- fitted with chains and straps. _Not. Fucking. Again_. He threw one of the men off his right arm and into the wall. He knocked over a table of metal instruments, and one covered with a cloth. A large metal arm rolled across the floor, fitted with mean looking spikes and long bone screws.

He screamed then, tried to get away, but he was just too weak. He couldn't break free as more guards came to lift him onto the table.

No- he wasn't on a table, he was strapped into a chair with his metal arm magnetized to its back. They were putting a plastic bite guard into his mouth and a mask was lowering- arcing electricity fizzed and cracked and cooked his flesh where it hit- more pain than any human should be made to feel-

No. He was in a dark cell, cold, he hadn't had anything to eat or drink for what felt like forever. He was crazed, half-mad.

No- the chair- the table- the cell, the scenes kept racing past faster than he could process. Bucky prayed then for insanity- anything but this. Someone was shouting at him through the fog- he was drowning in darkness, tangled, lost. His metal arm held him down, and he clawed and ripped at it. He was prepared to lose the rest of the limb if need be.

"JAMES BARNES, YOU MUST WAKE!"


	8. Chapter 7, 8

**Location: Avenger's Tower- Steve's Guest Room; Thor's Apartment**

"BUCKY, WAKE UP!" Steve roared, shaking him. Bucky's eyes snapped open, but he wasn't seeing the room, he was trapped in whatever hell his dreams had created. His metal arm was dead, but he threw Steve across the room with his human arm just as easily.

He continued to roar wordlessly, striking back against unseen foes- and demolishing the closet doors in the process. His face was nearly purple, his screams ramped up several notches and he struggled, but laid back as if he were being pinned down. His broken fingers were bleeding, but he tried to tear away his metal arm. Steve untangled himself from the remains of the dresser and ran back at him, "BUCKY!" Thank god he hadn't grabbed the knife sitting by his head.

Thor ran around him over the ruined doors and grabbed Bucky's head. He lifted the eyelids with his thumbs. Only the whites of Bucky's eyes were visible. Thor cursed and pulled his pajamas from around his neck. He grabbed the healing stone, broke the chain, and threw it out of the room, "JAMES BARNES, YOU MUST WAKE!" he roared as loud as he could and shook the boy.

Bucky's screams turned to ragged gasps, and after a moment those faded to whimpers. His eyes opened slowly to see Steve and Thor above him. They moved back and he sat up. He was drenched in icy sweat, cold and shaking. His eyes were bloodshot, his head and throat ached, his arm and hand burned. He looked so _scared_.

"W-w-what happened?"

"You had a nightmare," Steve was trying to mask his own fear, but failing.

Thor patted Steve on the back and retrieved the steak knife, "I heard the commotion, came to see if all was well."

Steve could hear Banner running through the living room, ready to help. How many floors had woken up?

"What did you dream of?"

Bucky swallowed hard and pointed to his arm. His hand shook so violently he ended up tapping it rapidly. Banner took one look at the strips of torn, bloody flesh, "I'll get the first aid kit," he vanished.

Thor nodded to Bucky, "The stone helps you remember, but there is no way to control what it will uncover."

Bucky merely hung his head, ashamed. Banner returned with a towel to mop up the blood and a box of medical supplies. Bucky didn't speak, but he scooted out into the room and helped clean and bandage the wounds as best he could. When they were done he looked up to Banner and Thor, "I'm sorry," he almost whispered.

"We all have our demons," Banner volunteered, "you've got no reason to apologize."

Bucky looked around the room at the pulverized dresser- the door held up only by one hinge and the ruins of a splintered chair- Steve had smashed his way in when the screaming began. A clock on the wall read 2am. His body was wrecked, weary down to the bone, but he knew he wouldn't sleep again. He was too scared of the dream- he couldn't take seeing it again.

"Would you like to talk about it?" Thor offered.

"No- no. Please, go back to sleep. I'm sorry. Please," he didn't want to be around anyone, he couldn't look weak, they were only helping because they were scared of him.

Steve nodded, taking his hint, "Hey Bucky, two floors down is a library, lots of books on mechanics and bikes and the like, if you want. You were a mechanic once, do you remember that?" Bucky nodded, but didn't speak again. Thor pulled Steve towards the door and Banner followed.

"Thank you," he shook hands with both of them as they left the flat. "I'll see if he'd be willing to take something to help him sleep, maybe the doc can give him something in the morning."

"It's no trouble, really," Banner shook his head, "I can't even imagine what he's been through. I'm just glad he's here and not out there somewhere. We can handle him, get him real help. Out there- regular people could have gotten hurt."

He waved goodbye to Steve and Thor at his door and went back in to sleep. Thor put a hand on Steve's shoulder, "May we speak for a moment?"

"Sure," they went upstairs to Thor's rooms. It was very Asgardian- marble floors and lots of large metal furniture draped in unknown furs. Carvings told tales of ancient battles and fierce hunts. Most of it had been brought from Asgard on Thor's rare visits. He was ready to make Midgard his home. Thor offered Steve a pop tart and they sat in the dining room.

"I know very little about James Barnes," he admitted, "but I have known many warriors who suffered similar fates at the hands of the enemies they once fought against. He was a childhood friend of yours, was he not?"

Steve nodded, "Did anyone ever tell you who I was before I became _this_?"

Thor shook his head, "I have heard Tony make mention of a potion, and I know you are not of this time, but that is all."

"I was this wimpy kid. Small. Always sick, always slow. Even walking up stairs was too hard sometimes. I wanted to be a hero like my father. I wanted friends and adventures, but no one on our street was allowed to play with a sick little kid who couldn't even breathe half the time," he lost himself in the memories as Thor struggled to reconcile the person sitting before him with the description Steve gave. "I could watch the others have fun, that was it. Bucky was totally opposite- always picking fights, playing pranks, leading the kids in their games. He kind of took me under his wing all of the sudden, I don't know why. I think his mom told him to. When we picked teams he'd make sure I was either on his or leading the other so we could cheat, and the other kids had to at least make room for me."

"We grew up as close as brothers. My dad died, then my mom, and I was alone. He and his family took me in, gave me somewhere to stay that wasn't full of ghosts."

Steve's smile faded, "When the war rolled around, everyone went to fight. Half the countries were trying to stop this one ruler who was slaughtering innocent people by the millions. My enemy, Red Skull, made new weapons of torture and murder for him," he wasn't sure how much history Thor knew, so he just did his best to explain quickly.

"Bucky was drafted- ordered by our government to fight or go to prison. He told me he'd enlisted, he knew how much I wanted to go, to do my part. No one would give me the chance, so he pretended he was going willingly."

Thor nodded, "It fares better on family and friends if a warrior is at the least believed to have fought of their own volition, especially if they do not survive the battle." Steve nodded, "Was that when you were given the potion?"

"The serum," Steve corrected, Thor tended to make things sound like some sort of fairy tale. "Bucky had just told me he was leaving in the morning. I was angry, I tried lying to the inspectors so they'd take me too. That's when Erskin found me. He was a scientist who fled the war, but he couldn't put his research aside. He wanted to make a super soldier- one man worth ten. His serum created the Red Skull, he thought I'd be more worthy, for some reason."

"Did you fight in great battles?"

"No," Steve laughed, "I was propaganda. They ordered me to make these films where I pretended to kill our enemies. I went city to city getting people to give their money to the government to fund the war. I was made to be a weapon, but they just kept showing me off. If I, with all my abilities, was kept back from the front to entertain them, then maybe the war wasn't as bad as everyone thought."

"My tour took me to the battle lines after a while. I was supposed to give the men hope- rally them, but they hated me. I was a guy who pretended to fight, they were men who'd seen their friends killed doing the real fighting. I found out the men had just lost more than a hundred to the enemy, Bucky was among them."

Thor was concerned, "Is that how he was captured by Hydra?"

Steve kind of half shook his head, "The first time, yeah. Tony's father, Howard, flew me behind enemy lines one night. I broke into the Hydra base where the men were kept. I freed them and told them to blow the place to Hell, they told me Bucky had been taken away with others- and none of them had returned. I only ever found _him_. He'd been tortured and- though I didn't know it until recently, he'd been given the serum, just like me. His version was rough, unfinished. He was the only one who had survived it."

"After we got back to the camp, I was given my pick of the soldiers I'd saved to form my own team, the Howling Commandos, and lead the war against Hydra. Me, Bucky, and five others. Our leaders were Howard Stark and Peggy Carter, part of the team who made me."

Thor could tell from his expression _exactly_ what Peggy Carter meant to him.

"We lost Bucky near the end of the war, taking Hydra's lead scientist captive. He was thrown out of a train and off a cliff, I couldn't save him. It was so far- I thought he was dead. The most they ever found was his arm. Smashed and ripped apart."

"I went after Hydra, ran us into their nest headfirst and didn't even care what happened, I just wanted revenge. I followed Red Skull into a plane and killed him with the cube- the tesseract. I couldn't stop his bombs from going off, and I wouldn't let him kill anyone else. So I crashed the plane into a dead, barren stretch of ice. That's where they found me, still in the plane, 70 years later."

"I knew you were from another time, but I did not think from so long ago. I am sorry. What happened to James during that time?"

"As far as we know, Hydra captured him, tortured him, and made him the Winter Soldier- an assassin. No one believed he really existed, no one knew he was Bucky. He even shot Natasha once, and walked away," Thor whistled at that, he could not imagine an entire squadron of Asgardians getting the best of Natasha for a second, let alone one human. She was like the Lady Sif- a peerless warrior, "Hydra thought after so long they could send him to kill me, but I think I jogged his memory. He _almost_ killed me, but ended up saving me instead. Hydra lost the Triskellion, he saved my life and fled, and up until a couple days ago I couldn't even find him."

They were silent for a moment, "What was he like when you saved him the first time?"

"He wouldn't look anyone in the eye. He had bad nightmares, most of the men I freed did, and he was darker-angrier. He spent a lot of time alone in the bar near base. But- come to think of it I'd see him with three empty drinks, working on the fourth, and he'd still be sober. That should have been obvious, but I didn't even think Hydra had their own serum. When the Howling Commandos formed, he got better. He was still the guy you'd send in to slit the guard's throats and open the gate, he was good at it, but he laughed and joked around again."

Thor nodded, "I've seen warriors who suffered similarly, as I said. It was a common practice of the Jotun, the frost giants as you call them. They would torture their prisoners and make them fight against their own friends, it was a psychological war, we were able to recapture few. There is always a lingering darkness- they hate what they were made to become, and they let the change fuel them to hunt those they believe created them to enact the very same pain they were forced to feel. It is a dangerous road to head down, that line between friend and foe begins to fade... James Barnes will need you to help him remember who he was, not what he was made to be. He has been hiding from what he's done, punishing himself with this quest. He thinks this girl is the only chance he has for even a small piece of redemption, but if he finds her broken or made into a killer, it will only feed that self-loathing."

"You think we shouldn't help him find her?"

Thor shook his head, "Find her, but be prepared for the consequences when you do, no matter the condition she is in. He cannot rely on her alone for salvation. Like when you liberated him many years ago, you must give him a worthy cause to rally his spirit. Keep reminding him who he was, show him he can find peace once again, and let us help."

Thor counseled Steve as best he could. His mother had been leader once of the Valkyrie battle-maidens, and in their healing halls they kept the soldiers changed by the Jotun. She'd taught him much of the consequences of war, he had just been too stupid to take her words to heart until very recently. He remembered one of the most important parts suddenly.

"Steve Rogers, you look as if you fair little better than your friend. You must also keep in mind you are just as supported in this endeavor as he. We may not all get along, but we are not enemies to one another. We fight for the same cause. You need help in your venture, and be certain even Tony Stark will answer your call should you chose to make it. Not only those taken by the Jotun suffered, their friends and family suffer just as keenly."

"Thanks, Thor, that means a lot," Steve hadn't considered it before, but he hunted Bucky with a vigor paralleled only by that final hunt for Hydra in the 1940s, with such reckless abandon it frightened him looking back. He could have gotten Sam killed a dozen times at least, pure luck kept his team alive in Astana- and for all he knew they hadn't made it out alive. The Howling Commandos were his best friends, Peggy his best girl, and he'd been so consumed in his own quest for revenge, he'd lost them all in what still felt like the span of a single day.

He couldn't change any of that, but he could still help his best friend find his way out of the shadows, this time without throwing everyone else into a bloody war headfirst.

Thor had counseled many generals with similar stories over his centuries, more so in the battles to repair the damage he'd wrought by destroying the Bifrost. Odin's sudden willingness to send him away to Midgard had puzzled him, but now he saw it for the blessing it was. He could help here, make the group stronger. He understood now who Steve was, what war he was fighting, and judged him a worthy man.

When Steve got up to leave he tripped over Mjolnir, sitting slightly in his path. Thor watched, curious. Steve grabbed the handle to steady himself in his fall, and the hammer twitched. _Worthy indeed, or at least on his way to being_ _so_.


	9. Chapter 9

**Location: Avengers Tower- Library **

Bucky spent the rest of the night alone in the library. At first he just wanted to be somewhere no one else was so he could try to get control of himself. The stone in that amulet hadn't just made him dream, it made him remember in bloody, vivid detail. The procedure to screw on his arm, that first mental wipe, being locked away for weeks- cold, hungry, all because he'd accepted a hot cup of soup on a freezing winter's day while working for Pierce.

Those memories kept swirling louder and faster in his mind until he couldn't take it anymore, and so he'd grabbed a book to distract himself with. It was simple- a textbook on car engines. It looked like a textbook from some school, but the contents were familiar and comforting. As he read he could almost remember afternoons spent in a garage working on cars he knew he'd probably never be able to afford but simply loved being around. The mechanics of how they worked came to him as easily as Sunday school lessons had.

The garage would be long gone, the streets paved over, the tenant buildings torn down to make way for apartments, but mechanics never changed much. He had never considered what he might do if he was freed from Hydra. Now, emboldened, he dared to dream of working again in a garage, surrounded by old cars and covered in the familiar scent of engine grease instead of the iron rot of blood. It would be small- he wouldn't draw any attention, and if Hydra came knocking he'd cut through them and continue with his day. Maybe he'd even find a family, eventually. Live the life he'd dreamed of as a kid.

The red tide of mangled, bloody corpses would be behind him, and he'd be free to just _live_.

But not until he found Echo and repaid Hydra for everything they had done to him, and made him do to others.

When Tony came looking for him in the morning he found Bucky asleep at a table, his hand resting on an open book. He could have sworn he saw a thin smile on the Winter Soldier's face.


	10. Chapter 10

**Location: Avengers Tower **

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Tony asked anxiously, "You're not going to kick my ass the second I start strapping you down? We're going to have to pin your arms and legs for this."

Bucky was in the operating room standing next to the procedure table. His hand was shaking and he was trying hard not to hyperventilate. It was clean, yes, but still looked a hell of a lot like his nightmare. He kept telling himself it was going to be different, they were helping. He wouldn't be awake, he wouldn't hear the bone saws or feel the screws taking hold. He wouldn't smell his flesh cooking...

Even as he tried to get control, he was psyching himself out. It was becoming more difficult to distinguish this operating room from Hydra's.

Tony saw his eye twitch and, with a subtle signal to Thor he moved to the far side of the table to stand by his remote suits. Thor had come in with Bucky to help in case he triggered- exactly like he was doing now.

"James, this is to help you, not harm you," he stepped up behind him. Bucky tensed, became hyper-aware. They'd lured him here and he was stupid enough to follow. They were going to make him the Winter Soldier again- he had to get out!

Bucky swung at Thor suddenly, but the Asgardian moved to his left and before Bucky could pivot he felt an arm around his shoulders, pinning his one good arm down. At the same time something stung his neck and-

"Told you so!" Tony called out to Steve in the observation room. Thor caught Bucky as he sagged and pulled the needle from his neck. Steve was too hopeful- Bucky wouldn't have made it. He would have gone berserk at best as he was being strapped down. Thor and three of Tony's remote suits were armed with powerful tranquilizers, ready to step in.

Once Bucky was secured to the table and his metal arm was extended fully away from his body, Stark knocked on the main door to the O.R. and the surgeon entered. Thor nodded to the nervous man and left to watch with Steve.

"Ready Doctor Johansson?" this was the same surgeon who led the team in removing the shrapnel from Tony's heart, he was more than competent and worked wonders, even with such unusual procedures as this.

The doctor nodded and began hooking wires to Bucky to monitor various things- heart rate, blood oxygen level, blood pressure, brain activity and more. He had been promised assistants, but the Suits were hardly what he had in mind, even though Tony had modified them for medical work. Still, one stood between the doc and the trays of surgical equipment while another began hooking IVs into Bucky's human arm with all the delicacy of a nurse.

Tony came forward with the third suit, his assistant, "JARVIS, project an x-ray of the arm, highlighting human tissue in yellow and mechanics in blue. Nix the plating, unless it hooks into him directly." A framework appeared over the arm and Doctor Johansson whistled.

"How much for one of these for the hospital?" he examined the projection closely, "the bone was cleaned up, at least. I was worried it would have been a hack job. It's not pretty, but it's a lot better than I was expecting." he turned his attention to the shoulder joint, "We will need to remove these screws in the upper joint as quickly as possible."

Tony looked at it from a technical standpoint, "To get at them you'll need the base plate off. It hooks into the upper metal plates here," he pointed something out, "so I can't get to those while that's still on."

"We'll have to remove most of the flesh on the arm," the doctor nodded and pointed at the base plate. It flashed and the framework became more detailed and slightly enlarged over the area, "His skin has fused to the metal, you sure he can handle the schedule you've set?"

"I told you," Tony sighed, they'd been having this conversation all morning, "he's got the same mojo Captain America has, it will take more than these surgeries to do any permanent damage. Plus, it was all put on while he was conscious, and there wasn't even _topical_ anesthesia. If he survived that, he can handle the removal. Besides," he added, "I'm paying you extra to not worry."

"I always worry about my patients," Doctor Johansson looked at the monitors, "I'll be keeping an eye on those, if it looks like it's putting too much strain on his system, I'll stop immediately."

"Deal," Tony went back to examining the mechanics and highlighted a rather terrifying array of wires that snaked out of the stump to wind into the metal arm. This was why he had to be in the room during the procedure- the mechanics were too complex for a surgeon to figure out alone, "These are the neural interfaces. From the scan I ran on him yesterday, I'm confident they will release from the outer arm fairly easily. If I have time, I'll make a replacement, but for now we just leave them be, got it?" the doctor nodded.

"Anything mechanical I will defer to you before touching. Now, first things first, we need to clean the area before we begin to remove the plate. It looks like we will have to make a cut here-" he marked a spot near Bucky's shoulder, "and disconnect the skin from the muscle directly. Can this table lift?"

Tony hit a button on the side and the straps tightened. Slowly, the table tipped vertical and turned. A section of the table folded in, fully exposing the back of Bucky's metal shoulder. "This will give us 360 degree access, no worries there."

"Okay, I want one of _these_ for the hospital too."

"The suits aren't available, but I'll have JARVIS fabricate a half-dozen of these as your tip."

Steve's cell phone rang and he left the observation room to answer it. The number came up as blocked. Half the people he knew were SHIELD agents, spies, or simply non-existent as far as the government was concerned, unknown numbers were more common than calls from people on his contacts list. "Hello?"

"Hey, Cap."

Steve breathed a sigh of relief, "Coulson, I'm glad you called. Have your Agents made it back yet? How is Tripp? Did you lose anyone?"

"Everyone's alright," Coulson sounded cheerful, "a few took shots, like Tripp, but Agent Simmons got everyone patched up beautifully. Agent Tripp is still in recovery, but he'll be just fine. I've got a beta team on-site cleaning out Astana, then we'll take care of wiping it off the map."

"That's great, I was really worried. Tell them all I owe them, big. Anything you guys need."

"I appreciate that. Did you get him, or does the hunt continue?"

Steve smiled, "We got him. His only condition was that we keep working this 'Project: Echo' angle- he says the girl is alive, but he can't remember which base he sent her to. He'll be out of commission for a while, but we'll get to the bottom of this."

"I'll put a few agents to work scanning all the files to one of Maria Hill's satellite servers. She can grant JARVIS access to run keyword searches. If we find anything, I'll call again."

"Alright, thank you- for the team and for all the help."

"So long as it ends in tears for Hydra, I'm happy to help out. I've got to get going, we've had something come up in the Caribbean that requires my attention."

"You guys good?"

"Yeah, don't worry. Unless the world ends. If that looks like it'll happen, I'll give you a shout."

"OK," Steve laughed, "talk to you later."

"With me." Natasha intercepted him as soon as he got the phone into his pocket and turned back to the operating room. She looped an arm through his and dragged him backwards towards the elevator.

"What the hell, Nat?"

"You need to get out of here while they do their thing, or you'll drive yourself nuts. They'll call with updates, we're going to run errands."

"Natasha, no," he tried to pull out of her iron grip with no luck. Steve was suddenly very unsure- he and Bucky were the only super-soldiers, right? "I've got to get started on Project Echo."

"Oh yeah," she rolled her eyes and hit the elevator call button, "Hydra top secret project, your ability to finally use google will _really_ help JARVIS out. Now stop wining, you're not getting out of this one."

* * *

Natasha kept him out all day. When they returned Steve was weighed down with bags upon bags of new clothes to fill Bucky _and_ Sam's closets, as well as take-out they'd brought back for everyone. Steve had pretty much just been her pack mule all day.

He set the bags and food down in the lounge area and ducked into the observation room while she went upstairs to find Clint, Thor and Sam.

"I wouldn't-" Banner tried to warn him, but he wasn't quick enough.

Steve's stomach twisted and he came very close to throwing up. Bucky's shoulder was exposed- in every way. The metal plate was gone and the area was covered in a thick, clear ointment, but he could see very clearly they'd taken all the skin off. Muscle was exposed and drying blood dripped down his side. His back was to Steve at the moment and the table was vertical, but that was somehow _worse_.

Tony was under Bucky's metal arm, making a face and using a power drill to remove a bloody screw from his armpit as long as Steve's smallest finger, and nearly as thick. Two others sat in a small glass dish. A fluid-stained towel covered the metal plate sitting on a tray near the window. A corner of it poked out and Steve could see the fused, warped flesh.

"That's the last screw," Banner explained, "then they will get to removing the rest of the arm. It'll probably take a few more hours, then they're basically doing a shoulder replacement surgery and calling it a night. Of course, by then it'll be more like tomorrow morning..." Tony got the rest of the screw out, shivered, then looked up and waved at Banner to say something. Banner leaned forward and turned the intercom back on, "I couldn't stand the sound," he explained.

"Rogers, you OK if we just keep him under until the new base is installed? It might be safer for us and more comfortable for him."

Steve nodded and gave him a thumbs-up, "Good call. Should I get the healing stone from the apartment? It could help."

Doctor Johansson looked confused, but Tony shook his head, "Not yet, wait until we're done for the night. I don't want to risk it waking him up while we're still working. One good wrench in this state and he might lose the shoulder entirely."

Steve ran a hand through his hair, then turned to Banner, "Food is in the lounge, if you have an appetite. Let me drop some stuff of upstairs and I'll take a shift. Thanks for keeping an eye out."

"It's not my field, but I still think it's pretty cool." Banner was amicable, "Take your time, I'll be sticking around until the metal comes off. I might go grab a plate though," he sniffed, "Chinese? Excellent."

Steve walked out to the lounge with him and took Sam and Bucky's clothing upstairs. Sam looked like he'd won the lottery when he saw everything Natasha had picked out. He'd spent way too long living on jeans and old t-shirts as they hunted down Bucky. Now he had a _real_ wardrobe fit for someone living in the most exclusive apartments in New York City.

Steve tossed the rest of the bags in his laundry room and showered, then headed back down to take up his watch for the rest of the night. Banner ate as he studied Tony and Doctor Johansson's handling of Bucky's surgery. Steve couldn't even begin to fathom how Banner could still have an appetite, he anticipated the picture of Tony pulling a screw out of Bucky's armpit being etched into his brain for the rest of his life...


	11. Chapter 11

**Location: Avengers Tower **

Clint watched over the gathering from the rafters, detached. He was frustrated, and for no good reason. Something was wrong... Something big. his gut gnawed and twisted. He peered into every corner of the room, yet he _still_ couldn't find it. The shadows made his skin itch, but he could see into them well enough- there was nothing.

"You feel it too?" Natasha swung up to his perch, "It's not following Rogers or me, it stayed here when we left."

"When did you start noticing it?"

Natasha shrugged, "I'm not sure exactly. Something's been bugging me for a couple of days, but it's gotten... stronger or bolder- I feel like if I just moved fast enough I'd see it."

"And I'm not sure if we'd want to." Hawkeye. A cool enough code-name for an agent. Hell, it made a pretty awesome superhero name, but he couldn't rely on sight with this thing. His eyes were practically useless to him right now. What he heard, smelled, felt- _those_ senses were telling him there was an intruder.

"It never ends, does it? There's always one more bad guy."

"Since when do you mind?" he laughed.

Nat smiled, "Who said I minded? Come on, food's getting cold," she dropped lightly. Clint watched the room a bit longer, then followed.

He felt it move past him then, stronger than ever. As he fell he looked upward. He landed awkwardly, tipped into Thor and nearly brought both of them to the floor, but he finally locked in a fourth sense- he saw it. Only for a second, only long enough to make his heart race and his knees go weak. A face. A deformed, monstrous, grinning, inhuman, blood-freezing face. He didn't even blink, and it was gone. At least, from sight. He could still feel it up there, watching him.

"Clint? Are you alright?" Thor was shaking his shoulder. He looked for whatever Clint was staring at but saw nothing.

"Hey-" Natasha touched his arm, concerned.

It was like a spell breaking. Clint snapped into action and ran down the hall to the observation room. It was dark- too dark. Steve and Banner turned as he thundered in, "GET TO THE LOBBY, NOW!"

"What's going on?" Tony came to the window while Doctor Johansson continued to cut Bucky from the arm, "Are we under attack? Is it Hydra?"

"Finish working on him," Clint gave the operating room a quick one-over, lots of light, "You're fine here."

"HEY," Tony shouted as Clint shoved Steve and Banner out of the room, "Tell me what the fuck is going on!" he growled as Clint vanished around the corner, "JARVIS, life-signs scan, NOW!"

"No unregistered life-signs detected," JARVIS broadcast his response throughout the Avengers rooms of the Tower.

"Can someone tell me what's going on?" Banner needed advanced warning if Hulk was supposed to come out. Springing it on him gave the controls over to the Hulk which was never a fun party trick.

"Clint, what did you see?" Natasha had her gun out, but it was useless without something to shoot. Thor held out his hand and a second later Mjolnir flew down through the stairwell.

"JARVIS, turn on all the lights to max!" The lights faded up brighter and brighter until a few of the Avengers had to close their eyes. The whole room was flooded.

"THE FUCK IS GOING ON?" Tony came over the intercom, pissed.

"Something's in the shadows, it's watching us."

"What kind of _something_?" Steve didn't like the sound of this.

Thor turned to Clint, "What did you see?"

"A face," he looked around as best he could in the light. The _thing_ was gone. He couldn't even feel it, "a fucking monster face. It wasn't even there for a whole second, I don't think it meant for me to see it."

"Let's move to an interior room- there's a big dark window behind us and if something's watching..." Banner shivered.

In the end they settled in the recovery room. It only had a few cots, but this way they had a single door separating them from the operating room. When Tony and Doctor Johansson rolled Bucky out for the night covered in thick bandages, they each fell to a cot and were out in seconds- despite the unknown threat.

"I'll be right back," Steve was watching blood seep through the wrappings on Bucky's stump.

"It's not a good idea to go alone," Natasha stood to come with him, but he waved her down.

"I'm getting the stone. I'll be fine. JARVIS, light up the Tower for me?"

"Certainly, Master Rogers."

He left the others and headed up into the building, careful not to look out any of the windows. Ever since he was a kid, Steve had a fear of looking out of a window at night. When he was 4 he'd opened the front door and a black dog had pounced on him out of nowhere. It was friendly, but he was scared of dogs for _years_ after that. Some creature in the shadows frightening enough to make Clint Barton go that white? He didn't want to even catch a glimpse.

"JARVIS, lights?" The stairwell was getting dim the higher he climbed. His hair stood on end, it felt like something was only a couple of steps higher, just around the curve in the staircase.

"Apologies, Master Rogers, but I do not appear to have control over those lights. I believe my systems have been damaged. I highly recommend returning to the others."

_Perfect_, "OK, I'll just be quick."

He took slow, deep breaths to calm his pounding heart, then pushed on up the stairs. He thought he heard something ahead of him and froze- but there was nothing there. Steve closed his eyes and listened as best he could. He'd done this storming bases with the Howling Commandos- let his other senses tell him where the enemies were. They were never wrong, and they told him he was only a few steps away from it- whatever _it_ was.

Steve was even slower going up the last flight of stairs. He kept his eyes closed until he got to his door, it was more reliable. The _thing_ was just ahead of him, watching. He stopped on the landing and opened his eyes. The door was buckled, warped in its frame like something had smashed into it from the inside until the hinges broke and the door sagged. Steve readied himself for a fight, pushed it open and-

* * *

Thor went looking for Steve after 10 minutes. Natasha, Clint, and Banner stayed behind to hold control of the recovery room, should the need arise. Four rows of remote Suits guarded them from the outside.

Mjolnir sparked and crackled, ready to destroy any would-be assassin. He made it up the stairs without incident. It seemed as if nothing was wrong- until he got to Steve's apartment. There was no door, and the inside was absolutely wrecked, it looked as if a great battle had taken place here. Thor cautiously entered, looking for his friend. Several man-sized holes in the wall suggested a battle with something. On the living room wall was a large spray of blood. Thor wound Mjolnir up as he followed the trail. It stirred a breeze he could easily whip up into a hurricane, if need be.

He found Steve on top of a smashed door near the back of the apartment, but it was likely too late. The shadows around him were dense and they formed a shape- like some kind of beast, though a severely deformed one. It loomed over him and began to pour into his eyes and mouth.

The darkness around him smelled metallic- it wasn't shadow anymore, it was something worse, something unnatural. Steve's eyes opened and the darkness burned from within. Tendrils of shadow snaked from his mouth. It took but a second for Steve to be taken. Thor hadn't even had time to process what he was seeing, "JARVIS, ILLUMINATE THIS ROOM!" there was no response, so Thor took matters into his own hands.

He aimed Mjolnir at the ceiling and released as little of its power as he could. The raw electricity made the lights flash incredibly bright. Steve seized up, there was a wild, animalistic roaring, then the black fire was blasted from him. He went limp, the lights exploded, and Thor wasted no time in grabbing him and racing back down the stairs.

Natasha cursed when Thor came running in with an unconscious Steve. Blood covered most of Cap's face and neck, not to mention his clothes. She hit Doctor Johansson to wake him and ran over to help Steve onto a free cot.

When they cut off his shirt they found claw marks trailing from his right shoulder across his torso and down to his left hip. The flesh around the wound was gray, dead- but every so often there was color, and the wound looked to be hours old, not minutes, "Thank the Gods," Thor mumbled to himself and quickly grabbed at Steve's hands. Clenched in his left fist they found the healing stone.


	12. Chapter 12

**Avengers Tower, 6 Days Later **

Whatever the creature that attacked Steve was, it infected his body with a toxin no one could trace- not even Thor. His wounds had been tinged with gray when he was brought back, but even under the power of the healing stone the only improvement was to the cuts themselves, which left thin silver scars winding across his torso. The gray flesh had spread outward from the wound within hours, and within a day or two it was up around his throat. There was- one particularly bad night when Steve was suffering from violent seizures- talk of bringing in someone to perform last rights.

They kept a spare exam light over him at all times, just in case the creature had possessed him somehow. During the day someone would sit with him and Bucky while the others helped repair severed wiring throughout the Tower and installed new, reinforced lights. As they repaired the Tower they spread out from the recovery room, but never far, just in case Steve didn't make it. Tensions couldn't have been higher, even Tony stopped joking around. He threw himself into his work and managed not only to complete a temporary arm for Bucky, but he also had JARVIS fabricating the final metal unit _and_ reverse-engineered neural interfaces for the new base-plate.

There was no way to stop the creature- save blasting it with light, as Natasha was forced to do one evening. Tony managed to calibrate JARVIS to use his scanners to track a very faint anomaly in photon emissions and ultra violet light throughout the rooms. It was unique- a shift in the fabric of the shadows themselves, and it helped ease some of the strain. After the attack on Steve the beast had not been able to manifest with any real strength- even when it began to coalesce in front of Natasha she managed to fend it off with a basic flashlight.

It was only then, at the end of the one week limit Bucky had placed on Tony, that Steve woke.

Banner was napping with his feet on the end of Steve's bed when the Captain groaned and started to move. He jerked awake and slid closer to the bedside, "Woah, slowly now, easy," he hit a button and the back of the bed rose to prop Steve into a reclining position. Steve tried to open his eyes, cursed, and clapped his hands over them. "Too bright?" Steve nodded, "Good. You can see."

"What happened?" he croaked. Banner passed him a cup of water- most of which he choked on.

"What do you remember?"

"About what?" his brain felt like it had been pulled out, scrambled, and poured back in. He couldn't focus on anything for long. Banner hesitated, he wanted to know what Steve remembered, but suggesting anything (like even just asking if the shadow-creature got him) might taint any details he did know. "Give me a lifeline, I'm lost here," Steve pleaded.

Banner sighed, "You had cuts from your neck to your hip, deep ones. Thor found you lying on top of a closet door. Do you remember what happened?"

"No, I- I mean not really, it's kind of..." he trailed off, confused.

"It's OK, just tell me what you can."

Steve continued to rub at his eyes and tried to focus, "It was watching me... I came upstairs and it- it was in front of me, like it was leading me. Like it was luring me in."

"You saw it?" Clint hadn't been able to give a very good description, maybe Steve-

"No," _damn_, "I don't remember walking upstairs. I remember _watching_ me walk. It led me into the apartment. I picked up the stone- next thing I know I'm being thrown all over the room and there isn't even anything I can see to fight," his heart-rate was rising.

"Hey, it's OK," Banner said quickly, "you're safe, you're nowhere near that thing, you're alright," he slowed a bit as he spoke and watched Steve's heart-rate plateau, then begin to settle. "Anything else?"

Steve shook his head, "Glimpses, flashes that make no sense to me," he groaned and held a second hand over his face, "What the hell happened to my eyes?"

Banner chewed his lip, "JARVIS, is this room secure?"

"Yes, sir. No anomalies detected within operational scanner range."

"Dim the lights to, I don't know, 10% please." The room was plunged into quasi-darkness. Banner clicked off the exam light and grabbed a small mirror from the side table, "Open your eyes," Steve did as he was told, wincing. Banner handed him the mirror.

"What the-" Steve studied his reflection for a long time, mouth agape.

"We tried to test your pupil reflexes after Thor brought you down and found this instead," Steve's eyes were silvery gray- not the iris or the pupil, the entire damn eyeball was one color.

"I can still see," he was so confused.

"That's what I was betting on," Banner said gently, "it's getting better, for what it's worth. They were totally black the first couple days. Give it a bit longer, maybe you'll be back to normal by the end of the week."

"I feel like something chewed me up and spat me back out."

Banner shrugged, "You kind of were." he tapped his earpiece twice to open a channel wide to everyone, "Cap's awake."

"Finally," Stark had been working on the perfect reply all week, "you know, no amount of beauty sleep will fix your mug. 70 years didn't make a difference." _Nailed it_.

"Ha ha Stark, you're still not funny," Steve grumbled. He heard a surgical drill again and it sent shivers up his spine- they were working on Bucky.

"Did you guys talk about-" Natasha trailed off, worried.

"Yeah, he saw the eyes."

"Oh! _Saw_?! That's good!"

Steve tried to keep his eyes open, but he couldn't take even that much light, "They're really sensitive, this place is killing me."

"And we've only got the lights at 10%," Banner added.

"A lot of things in regards to you are overly sensitive," Tony couldn't resist an easy target.

"It's really tough to keep anything straight-"

"Oh good, you're admitting it-"

"I swear to God Tony, one more joke and I will come after you." Steve was in no mood.

Tony pouted, "Someone's grumpy."

"There was something I needed to do," Steve ignored him, "something important."

Sam knew what he was aiming for, "While they've been working on this, I've been looking into 'Project: Echo', don't worry. We've got nothing on where our _she_ might be, but there are some other avenues we're looking down. Might get lucky."

Echo. That was it. He pictured something suddenly- a black room only he could see in. There was a body on a table- a kid. She was pale, shaking. He'd seen that look before, this kid had been tortured within an inch of her sanity. Bucky looked a lot like that when he found him on that first Hydra base. Scars covered every visible inch of flesh. Something large and shapeless stood over her in the dark, and Steve knew this wouldn't end well.

The creature was _angry_. It raged against the child- tried to rip and tear at her flesh, but it wasn't strong enough yet, and it knew it. It wanted to kill her, kill everyone it could get a hold off. Steve pictured a bloody, mangled pile of Hydra bodies stretching back over years. The kid could see the beast- or probably just sense it. She screamed and cried and struggled like an animal in a trap, but nothing happened. The creature kept roaring and she kept screaming- then the lights came on and it was blasted back, but not before it saw someone standing in the doorway- someone who's darkness rivaled its own. Bucky.

"Hey! Steve!" Banner was shaking him, shouting. Steve blinked hard and tried to clear his head of the vision.

"It was there," he whispered, "in Astana. It saw her. It saw Bucky. It was there..."

Sam swore, "JARVIS, scan all incident reports from the Hydra files, keyword anything about shadows or black eyes or even damn animal attacks!"

"Fourty-seven reports found," JARVIS chimed in, "First report filed in 2006, noting similar incidents have been unofficially reported up to four years prior. Reports increase in frequency at a steady rate. Seven include partial sightings of an unknown creature. All cases were closed within a few days of the Hydra Agent's death from an unknown toxin. Reports were all attributed to one 'Project: Helius'."

"The hell is it with Hydra and their code names? Do you think they have someone who just sits there all day thinking them up?" Tony mused.

"Do you have a file on 'Project: Helius'?" Steve ignored him.

"Yes, Master Rogers. 'Project: Helius' was an experiment attempting to create alternative forms of stealth technology by bending photons around an object, essentially rendering it invisible, not merely camouflaged. It is worth noting that scientists recently have had success with the very same concept on a smaller scale."

"Clint and Cap's monster gives off an abnormal photon signature. Great. Any link between 'Helius' and 'Echo'? What happened with the Project?" Tony grunted as he shoved the metal base in place on Bucky's newly repaired shoulder.

"It was decommissioned in 1994 after an overload in the power supply caused a catastrophic delta radiation leak. Twelve of thirteen scientists were subsequently killed."

Banner was confident, "Let me guess, the last scientist either mysteriously survived or was never found."

"No, sir," JARVIS shot him down, "the thirteenth scientist, Doctor Anton Ryker, committed suicide two days after the accident. While he was not on site at the time of the incident and therefore not subjected to the fatal radiation, his wife, lead researcher Emilie Ryker, was. She died from radiation poisoning an hour before he shot himself. The only connection I can find between Projects 'Helius' and 'Echo' is the western wing of Hydra Facility Astana."

"Those scientists brought something through," Natasha had heard this story before, "They didn't just happen to have an illuminated experimentation room for 'Echo'. I'd bet everything they kept that _thing_ in there to study after the scientists died."

"There was a repair order issued for the room in 1995. Three guards were killed in an unknown incident and the doors were severely damaged by what is described as a clawed _creature_."

Clint agreed with Natasha, "It escaped, no way in hell they could find something hiding in a shadow, so they re-purposed the room."

"A few deaths a year? A group like Hydra would have chalked that up to an acceptable loss if they thought they might be able to get hold of it somehow."

"And it came back with us," Steve finished. "The screaming Bucky heard- he was right. It wasn't just the kid in that room. That thing wanted nothing but blood."

"One normal year," Tony grumbled as he worked on positioning the new bone anchors, "just one. All I wanted. It was on my Christmas list and everything. So, just curious, this 'Project: Helius' link, do you think that's enough to let me out of all this alive or-?"

"Well," Natasha responded darkly, "you had Thor knock Bucky out and kept him drugged up for a week without his permission, you didn't find where the girl was, and we really only discovered a new problem fairly unrelated to the original."

"In other words, you're dead," Clint sounded too happy...

"Ah, fuck."


	13. Chapter 13

**Avenger's Tower **

By the time Bucky woke up Steve could stand the lights at 15%. Natasha and Clint were finishing lighting upgrades up on the top floor, and Sam was on his way back from Maria Hill's old field office on the far side of the city. He didn't wake gradually as Steve had, he pretty much just snapped awake, tipped over the side of the bed, and started throwing up.

Thor ran over with a metal bowl (too late) as Bucky groaned and rocked his head in his hands. His mind was swimming. Memories crashed down on him without order or mercy- missions, assassinations, running through the dirty Brooklyn streets as a child, Hydra's mental cleansing- while his body repaired the stone kept up its work on his damaged brain.

It took a long time to get a lid on it all. The group waited patiently, gave him his space to process everything. When the door shut behind Sam on his way into the room, Bucky looked up, "Hey, he's back too! Neither of you look to be in fighting shape, but it's a start."

"What?" Bucky looked around and finally noticed Steve looking like complete hell and hooked into a bank of monitors to his left. In turning though he caught sight of his arm, and his mind didn't even register that something was very wrong with Steve's eyes. His arm was black, synthetic. The temporary unit Stark promised. He followed the plastic with his right hand until he reached the metal. This plate wasn't rimmed in rough, ropey scars. The newly grown flesh was rippled, thin, and pale.

"Um, yeah, about that-" Tony didn't get a chance to finish.

Bucky lunged at him suddenly, lifted him by the throat with his false hand, and slammed him into the wall. The sudden motion made his new arm scream in pain, but he let that fuel his rage. "HOW LONG WAS I UNCONSCIOUS?" he shouted. Thor stepped up to pull him away and Bucky half turned to him, "Stay back or I swear to God I will crush his skull."

"You- you have to und-" Tony struggled to speak, Bucky pulled him from the wall and slammed him into it again. His eyes rolled up into his head for a few seconds.

"HOW. LONG?!"

"A week," he wheezed.

Bucky leaned in close and spoke much quieter, "And did you find her?"

"N-no," Natasha and Clint were flanking the crazed assassin slowly. Steve quietly began removing wires so he could fight if need be. He might get one or two punches in before the poison still in his veins took him down, but it could be enough to save Tony's life. Banner's eyes were green- the Hulk was dangerously close to coming out. Doctor Johansson, meanwhile, was hiding.

Bucky drew his human arm back for a punch. In this state, Tony probably wouldn't make it if that hit connected, "He meant yes." Sam's voice made Bucky freeze immediately.

"Tell me." He kept his eyes locked on Stark.

"What we could make out from the file you gave us said the supervisory agent was Thomas Dennisson, can you remember if that was right or not?"

Bucky could remember his face. Hard, smug- a Pierce wanna-be, "Yes."

Sam pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, unfolded it, and held it up for him to see, "A transfer order. November 2010, Thomas Dennisson was transferred to Hydra Facility Wonju to oversee the installation of a failed project."

Bucky dropped Tony and turned to Sam. He snatched the paper from his hand and read it over and over again. Natasha and Clint helped Tony up. He was coughing, panting, and his eyes were still rolling up uncontrollably, "Doc, he needs a CAT scan!" Doctor Johansson stood up from behind a cot and ran over to help lead Tony into the operating room.

Thor put a hand on Bucky's shoulder, "We have our destination, James Barnes. We may begin making preparations to find this girl."

Bucky was shaking horribly, "Wonju... Hydra deep freeze... Where they lock away experiments gone wrong... Hydra's asylum." he was staring at the order now, not even blinking. "Remembering wouldn't have helped," he was talking to himself, "I just convinced them to move her. I didn't know where. I wouldn't have... I wouldn't have-"

"Do not fear," Thor counseled, "once we are again at strength we shall take the base, liberate the child, and all shall be well."

Bucky shook his head, "I didn't know... I wouldn't have..."

"Wouldn't have what, Bucky?" Sam had a feeling this wasn't going to end so well.

"Wouldn't have blown it to hell on my way to Gastineau."


	14. Chapter 14

**Seoul, South Korea, 3 Days Later **

"This is a complete waste of time," Tony threw his suitcase on a bed and started unpacking lighting panels. The room was too dark and they didn't know if the creature was still following them, "and for the record, it would have been nicer to stay on the damn jet than here."

"It pales in comparison to the chambers of Asgard, true, yet I see nothing wrong. Besides, Hydra agents likely swarm the area. You yourself advised keeping our presence quiet. We could hardly stay somewhere obvious." Thor reminded him.

The hotel wasn't bad, at least not compared with where Natasha had wanted to base the group. It was just south of the Han river in one of Seoul's nicest districts, the rooms had two large beds, a table, an entertainment center, and a large bathroom. Natasha's idea was a $10 per night student hostel with one bathroom they'd all have to share. This was at least the kind of place where the staff held the door for you and called you "Mister" or "Miss", but Tony was more used to glamor, extravagance- displays of excess. Tonight he'd be stuck in a room with Thor, God of Thunder(ous Snoring). Was pulling straws even a legitimate way to decide anything? _Never-mind that it was my stupid idea in the first place._

Banner ended up rooming with Steve while Sam stayed with Bucky. It had been a tricky decision- Sam was _oh so _breakable should Bucky have one of what was becoming his trademark nightmares (and Sam _was_ experienced with PTSD patients), but in the same scenario with a different roommate, the _hotel_ was just as easily broken if Bucky lashed out at Banner at one in the morning and caused a Hulk-out. And even though he claimed he was just fine, Steve still needed medical supervision and couldn't get around on his own with all the extra lights they were setting up in each room, so he was out as Bucky's roommate. As for Natasha and Clint- well, they always sort of did their own thing (Plus when Tony asked Clint to swap with him or Thor, Hawkeye had just laughed and walked away).

Tony grabbed a light stand to steady himself a moment. He shook his head and the dizzy spell passed, "Are you alright?" Thor waved at the bed, "rest if you are unwell. I believe I can finish this task."

"I'm fine," but he wasn't. Bucky had done a real number on his head, it was going to take time to heal. His skull throbbed constantly, but hell if he'd admit it or ask Thor for some more of that Asgardian mojo. Thor was the one who drugged Bucky, Tony had done all the mechanics on that damn arm- solo! Why was he the only one smashed into a wall?

Thor dropped the issue and turned instead to the diagrams of the base. If it was still standing even in part he would be the one to find a way into the lowest levels. If there was any chance the girl yet lived, they had to hope she was stored there. Bucky was confident the very lowest storage rooms would have gone untouched.

Bucky, Thor, and Banner made up the ground team- tasked with finding their way to any vaults left. Sam had quickly trained Clint in the operation of the spare wing units so the two of them could be the eyes in the sky. Hydra was probably in the area, still cleaning the base out, so they were in charge of securing a visual and alerting Steve and Natasha to any departing trucks. They would follow them back to wherever Hydra was collecting the cryo tubes and search for her there. Between Bucky and Steve, each team had someone who could identify the girl (provided she hadn't changed too much in five years). Tony was on standby- whoever found her would signal him to come in and oversee her extraction from the pod (if she was even alive) and get her loaded into a remote medical suit. It was going to be a very long day, especially with everyone operating jet lagged. Tony pointing out every 10 minutes some new flaw in the plan didn't help.

"They probably dragged her out days ago, if not weeks, and have her at some other base already," one of his favorites. Or "she's dead, move on", but he only mumbled that one when he was sure Bucky's embedded comm was turned off. Giving him one of those had really limited what Tony could whine about. Steve loved it.

And now not only was it a hopeless mission, but it was a hopeless mission Tony would get no real sleep on.

In the wee hours of the morning just before dawn, as Tony imagined what the ramifications from Asgard would be if he killed Thor in his sleep (and right when he decided he was okay paying the price) the comm alarm chimed- time to get going.

Tony felt like being mean- exhaustion gave him courage. He cleared his throat, clicked on his ear piece, and whispered softly, "Bucky? Bucky~" then shouted, "GET UP!" Sam could dodge a psychotic assassin, right?

"I'm already awake," the voice was cool, calm. _God dammit._

"I however was not," Natasha sounded pissed. _Double god dammit then._

"Same here," Steve also sounded peeved. _At last, a silver lining._

"Well? What are you all waiting for? Find me someone to save." Maybe he could snag a few hours of sleep in the suit while they hunted...


	15. Chapter 15

**Thor, Banner, and Bucky: Wonju-Gangwondo, South Korea**

There was absolutely no cover between them and the access point. The three huddled in the trees and struggled to even make out the small island a mile away through the morning drizzle. Hydra soldiers were crawling all over the main base entrance, hidden in the forest a few miles back. Their entrance would be through the emergency exit. Bucky had no reason to blow the shaft when he came through, so it was the easiest point of entry. No doubt Hydra would have figured that out too.

Between their current position and the island was a university (evacuated because of a "suspected natural gas leak resulting in an underground explosion"), the rancid, muddy base of a man-made lake, and perhaps three trees before they'd be on top of the shaft. It was barely large enough to count as an island.

"If it dries up like this every year, how have students never stumbled into the base?" Sam was hiding just in the cloud layer, circling.

"They do," Bucky's voice was flat- his mind was on the girl, "the door is hidden, but one slips in every few years and Hydra gets a new plaything."

Sam shivered, "Same with swimmers when the lake's full?"

"The chemical run off from the cryo chambers renders the water toxic. Students who try to swim rarely make it out alive. Most learned to avoid the water entirely."

"Thank god we didn't decide to do this during monsoon season."

"That is why I waited until last month to attack."

"Well, nothing I've got will get you over there unseen, and if Hydra figures out we're here Steve and Nat don't have a snowball's chance. How you going to get over there?"

"You both should land for a moment, Sam Wilson and Clint Barton," Thor began to swing his hammer slowly. The drizzle began to tilt pretty sharply towards a downpour. Now even _they_ could hardly see through the sheets of rain.

Bucky and Thor took point with Banner bringing up the rear, miserable. He couldn't Hulk-out until they got into the tunnel, so he ran barefoot and shirtless, holding up massively over-sized sweatpants. Bucky had his black leather tactical vest and jacket with his brand new metal arm (painted with the Avengers symbol in place of the red star) exposed. Thor was full god mode- cape, armor, plated sleeves, the works. Banner, in comparison, looked like a pitiful hobo-stalker, chasing them across the squelching grass and thick, grasping mud. By the time they reached the island his feet were frozen, scraped, and cut by jagged stones- he struggled to keep the Hulk back.

The island had seventeen Hydra agents guarding it. The sudden downpour had forced them back into the tree line where they remained under the thicker patches of foliage- until the Avengers arrived. Thor only managed to get a couple- Bucky was like a tornado of knives. It seemed like he would barely turn towards a soldier and the man would fall, grasping at the gash in his throat. Thor wasn't sure they even knew they were fighting before they fell.

Banner looked for someone who appeared to have some authority over the group and rooted around their corpse for the earbud transmitter- if they were to get a signal to their men on the inside there had to be an external boost somewhere. When he found it he clipped on Tony's interface- JARVIS would scan all comms on the same frequency and synthesize replies from the voices of soldiers that they picked up. Hopefully Hydra wouldn't catch on until it was too late.

"Steve, Natasha, we've got a truck leaving the facility headed for the southwest road, do you copy?" Clint was "grounded" up a pine tree. He'd decided pretty much as soon as he saw the wings that Stark wasn't going to be getting them back any time soon. He had already confided in Natasha that he intended to be buried in them. He hoped Thor's rain stopped soon- a taste of flying and he was addicted.

"Copy, good luck everyone," Steve ran for Natasha's position.

"See you later, but wish us luck instead. If I end up cold and wet and the girl isn't even here-"

"Hulk smash?" Tony snickered.

Banner nodded to himself, "Hulk smash."

Bucky, meanwhile, was looking closely at a large Buddha statue in the center of the small island. The entrance was hidden under this shrine. He found the faint etching of Hydra's logo and pressed it, then located symbols on the Buddha to act as a sort of password. The cement ring in the center of the clearing lowered, then swung inward to reveal a hatch barely wide enough for Thor to fit through. Banner felt validated- Hulk wouldn't have been able to fit a foot through there. His suffering was not in vain.

The floor of the tunnel was twenty feet down or so- Thor and Bucky jumped. Banner lowered himself far enough to see just how wide the tunnel was going forward. As he judged, a group of Hydra soldiers came around the corner to investigate why the hatch was open. Banner quickened his breathing and before they had time to radio for help he dropped and took on his Hulk form. His mind simplified, his rage increased, and only Banner was able to keep _him_ from roaring. He dove at the soldiers and crushed them against a wall, then turned to look at Thor and Bucky. He growled and jerked his head. Hulk didn't know the fucking way, why weren't they doing their part?! Useless!

In places along the tunnel the walls had been blasted in and debris blocked their way. Hulk swept through these areas, clearing a path for Bucky and Thor. Bucky led where he could, knives at the ready, but they hardly came across any agents. The main focus wasn't some half-destroyed supply tunnel, it was the vaults. The bodies didn't really begin to pile up until they came to the first ruined door.

It was metal, reinforced, yet it hung at an angle and scorch marks radiated out from it. Bucky pried the doors apart only a hair and peeked through. Vault 1. Hydra swarmed the large warehouse-style room, inspecting dozens of large cryo chambers. Bucky had spent 30 years inside one of those, and the design hadn't changed much. There was a small window at roughly eye-level, but the rest of it was devoted to numbers and monitors. Doctors walked down the line, hooking tablets into those chambers that still emanated a glow. Bucky targeted the main power supplies and exits when he struck- anyone trapped inside one of those once the back up batteries died would have died a slow, miserable death from starvation and thirst. Nearly every window was clouded with bloody scratch marks. As the doctors looked in the windows the glass would shake as the trapped man or woman pounded. Their screams echoed dully.

One in every ten or so seemed to be a "chosen one". The doctor would compare the number on their pod with a sheet of paper and, if it checked out, they'd signal a soldier with a cart to attach a fresh battery on the bottom and the cryo unit re-initialized, freezing the poor bastard once again. The doctor closest to them shook his head and hit a red button on the side of the pod. The insides filled with fire and the screaming got louder for a brief moment, then died out entirely. Incineration.

Thor watched intently through the slit in the door, "James," he whispered, "those papers may reveal if the child is indeed here, or if Hydra has kept her alive. We should plan a way to lure one of the physicians to us and-"

A shadow detached from the banks of wires suspended on the ceiling (those not fried and frayed) directly over the scientist. It was smaller than Thor had imagined- perhaps Steve had been wrong in his analysis. It was distinctly humanoid too. Thor's mind raced with the possibilities. Someone from 'Project: Helius' must have been changed in the explosion! One of the scientists? A guard from outside the doors? The shadow was no mere summoned creature, it had purpose, it had form, it had a plan, it had- it had a metal arm. Thor whipped around, Hulk pointed up, and he saw the open ventilation shaft above his head. He looked through the door in time to see Bucky, hanging by his knees, slowly lower himself over the doctor, then grab his head, yank him into the ceiling, and break his neck all in one motion.

A few seconds later he dropped silently from the shaft with the paper in his hand, "Very impressive," Thor clapped him on the back and stood beside him so he could also read the llist. Several Project names were listed next to a "Kill" or "Preserve" order and a cryo tube number. There were also special instructions listed next to many of them- points of delivery, bases to transfer the prisoners to, who should be thawed before transfer, or who should be kept frozen. Bucky traced through it until he found what he was looking for: PROJECT: ECHO - PRESERVE - V174 - DELIVER TO COMMANDER DENNISSON, AUKLAND FACILITY, FOR TERMINATION. So, that scumbag Dennisson had been promoted, and he wanted to kill Echo himself.

Bucky swore and dropped the paper on the ground. He turned back the direction they had come and took off at a dead run- Thor and Hulk on his heels. He needed the elevator shaft. Echo had been transferred on his orders, Dennisson wanted the opportunity to kill the girl himself. He was a sadist, and probably the only supervisory agent in the science division to _enjoy_ a failed experiment, it gave him a new toy, and he had been gunning for Echo even five years ago. The fact that she was a kid didn't bother him- a toy was a toy.

"You know, you don't scare me," Bucky remembered her weak voice as she'd stood over him with Dennisson. She was pale from months in the base, and it hurt his eyes to look at her in the illuminated room. She was bruised, her wrists bled, and even though he couldn't see it, he knew she would be standing on one foot. He'd broken her heel with a pole. Black bags sagged under her eyes. She was staring at a spot on the floor, not making eye contact with anyone. Bucky was muzzled, but he struggled to break free of the restraints that bound him to the chair. Dennisson had a hand on the back of her neck, forcing her to watch.

"I don't want to scare you," his voice made Bucky sick. The girl shivered, "I want to give you the chance to take real control here."

"Just because I'm 14 doesn't mean I'm stupid, I don't have any control," she flinched, a reflex. The Winter Soldier usually beat her for speaking back to him- hence the heel.

Dennisson just moved his hand to her shoulder and handed her a remote, "You have control. You can make him suffer now. That's control."

In the base, Bucky used his momentum to run at a wall, push off, and change direction so he was now headed south towards the service elevator. He heard something, shouting from Thor, but he didn't stop. He tried to push back the memory but it was impossible.

He remembered one of the times he tried to break her out of Astana. She was twitching, shaking, trying desperately not to look around- even that much had taken him a long time to achieve. Particularly because every few weeks he would try to set her free. When they caught Bucky and Echo- and Hydra always did before the two escaped the confines of the base- they would make her watch as they reprogrammed him, just to be sure she knew there was no hope. After a while they made it a scheduled thing, just to preempt anymore attempts at heroics. Dennisson decided it would help her break faster.

He knew how this day ended. She refused to activate the machine, refused to hurt anyone on behalf of Hydra- even her torturer. The shocks would come, one way or another, and he would forget who he was. The first thing Dennisson would order him to do was punish her for her insolence. After this one he had broken three ribs, tied her arms above her head, and left her standing on only the tips of her toes for two days.

Bucky tripped over debris on the ground and went flying forward towards the elevator shaft- which was open but missing the elevator. Hulk caught him in mid-air and held him tight to prevent another pathetic outburst. _Stupid puny humans._ Bucky's vision was blurred, he couldn't force her face down in his memory, couldn't catch his breath as he remembered how she'd struggled to breathe through the pain.

Thor waved for Hulk to set him down and put his hands firmly on Bucky's shoulders, "James!" he shook him, then struck Bucky across the face. His eyes finally found Thor. Tears dripped down his cheeks. "We will find her. We will make this right."

Bucky nodded and rubbed the sweat and tears from his eyes, embarrassed. He'd totally lost control. He pointed to the shaft, shaking, "H-her pod number started with "V". That- that's level 5. We have to go down to level 5. Row 17, tube 4."

"Alright," Thor helped Bucky to steady himself and inspected the shaft. The walls were perfectly smooth, the only way down would be to grab hold of a chain and lower themselves. Thor reached out to the nearest and pulled. Now, he was no Midgardian, but he had endeavored to learn some of their mechanics over the years. He was fairly certain if these chains attached to their level-climbing devices they should not simply swing loose. Bucky could ID the issue by sight- the elevator had been damaged significantly and was probably in pieces at the bottom of the shaft.

"We can climb down at least."

Thor took his line in a more firm grip, set Mjolnir down on the ledge and stepped out into nothing. He hung from the chain for a few moments before nodding to Bucky. Bucky jumped to the farthest chain, leaving two in the middle for Hulk. The duo went down slowly, carefully. Once there was enough distance, Hulk stepped out. He wasn't meant for delicate climbing. He should have smashed his way down to the floor. _Stupid humans. Making Hulk look like a fool_. He would kill them later for this.

The addition of Hulk turned out to be a supremely bad idea. The anchor above them that held the chains groaned, dislodged from the anchors, and before any of them could process what was happening they were falling past the fifth floor all the way down to the eighth. Hulk reached out and grabbed Thor and Bucky just in time to flip onto his back and protect them from the brunt of the fall. He'd taken worse, but the little ones were fragile. They had no business being on this mission and getting in his way!

Hulk's impact flattened whatever was left of the elevator and blew the metal doors inward to Level 8. Thor and Bucky untangled from him and entered the space while Hulk righted himself and came in behind them. They were in another cryo room, this one a lot more damaged. Bucky had put a bomb in the elevator, apparently it was down here when it went off.

They walked through the quasi-darkness wearily, ready for trouble. Bucky remembered a stairwell on the far side, they could use that to backtrack. It would be full of Hydra agents, but he was more determined than ever. He could cut through an army.

"James, look," Thor pointed to one of the damaged tubes. It had been knocked from its base and was lying on the floor. The glass was shattered- but he could see pieces of it in the chamber, not outside of it, "Something broke in, not out." Around the jagged edges of the glass there was blood, skin, and chunks of hair.

Bucky's head whipped around and he inspected the other chambers. Some were lit- but most had been smashed open. There was plenty of glass on the floor- not everyone's departure had been involuntary. Bucky closed his eyes and listened as hard as he could. He detected rustles of fabric, the soft padding sound of bare feet on the floor. They weren't alone, not by a long shot. From the shadows and behind tubes Hydra's worst appeared. Their eyes were dull, glassy, and crazed. Some chewed strips of bloody meat and gore- Bucky had no questions about where they'd gotten their food from: the ones who didn't break out.

As they were surrounded, a fractured, indistinguishable voice sounded in Bucky's ear. He couldn't make out what it said. After a moment it seemed to repeat. There was a sound of feedback- a screech, then Steve's voice came through, frustrated, "-can't you just boost the signal without being such an ass? You're working no harder than the rest of us on this, stop acting like a martyr."

"Steve Rogers," Thor spoke softly, slowly, "we can hear you now."

"Bucky," Steve spoke quickly, he was breathless, "can you read me?"

"Yes."

"We found her Bucky. We've got Echo. She's alive."

He let out the breath he was holding and turned his full attention to the people in front of him. Thor summoned Mjolnir and began arcing his lightning through it. Bucky smiled then, bent his knees, and dove straight into the mob.


	16. Chapter 16

**Steve, Natasha, and Tony **

"Steve, Natasha, we've got a semi leaving the facility headed for the southwest road, do you copy?"

"Copy, good luck everyone!" Steve ran through the rain and the trees towards Natasha's position. As he ran he whipped out his mag pouch and shook it open. The pouch looked like a body bag (with impressive stealth capabilities), but it was made from a highly magnetic material. Natasha was already zipped into hers in the middle of the road- happily dry.

Steve kicked some mud and washed the splash to see where she was, then spread out his pouch so they would be toe-to-toe. He zipped it far enough that the retro-reflective camouflage engaged, but kept it open a bit so the magnetic component would not engage. Not long after, the semi came around the corner. Steve waited until it went over Natasha's bag, he heard the _klunk_ of the metal grabbing to the underside of the vehicle, then engaged his own so that he snapped up just behind her.

"Let's hope this is a short ride," he mumbled as the rubber clung to his drenched suit. It would be a whole new level of uncomfortable, that was for sure. His goggles- necessary to keep the light at a manageable level- fogged up fairly quickly, not that there was anything interesting to see. No light pierced through the bag, yet the effects of the Shadow's assault remained- he saw no matter how little light there was.

For a while he felt the relentless, stinging pounding of water hitting the bag, driven by the Semi's wheels. Thankfully as they traveled further and further from Thor's storm the water eased and he was finally able to ride in peace.

It took an hour to get to the warehouse. Steve was beyond ready for a fight- anything but having to spend one more minute in his cold, wet prison. He was sure he looked like a gigantic, wrinkly grape by now. "Get ready," Clint had followed the truck from a distance- pushing his trademark enhanced vision to its limits. "You're at a warehouse, the driver is checking into the main gate. You've got a dice roll- Hydra's got a small army outside this place. You can drop before the truck gets to the warehouse and fight your way in as best you can, or wait until it stops to drop off its cargo. You'll have more Agents around to help unload, but Hydra's smart- they might pull the semi into the warehouse while they unload to make sure everything stays top-secret. What do you think, Nat?"

Natasha considered the options, "If they don't pull into the building we're fucked, but if we drop too soon and they go in anyways, we might be just as screwed. Cap?"

"Let's see if they drop us inside. If we can do this quietly it's better for us."

"Sounds good to me."

"Well, we're about to see, the driver's getting back in," Clint remained high and out of sight, he wouldn't be of any assistance to Natasha and Steve on this one, "Stark?" There was no reply. "JARVIS, open Stark's comm, please," Stark teased him for speaking to JARVIS as if it were a real person, but he got the distinct impression the A.I. appreciated his efforts, so he refused to give it up.

Deep, rhythmic breathing filled everyone's ears, "Dammit, STARK, WAKE UP."

There was a gasp, a snort, then Tony's voice came over comms, "What?! What do you want?"

"Can we get two suits on standby for Nat and Cap's extraction? They're gonna draw heavy fire."

"Dispatched. Anything else?" Tony sounded groggy.

"No."

"Goodnight," the comm clicked off again.

Clint watched anxiously as the truck headed towards the loading dock, and breathed a sigh of relief when it turned in through the warehouse doors instead. Perfect, "You're headed in."

Steve prayed Hydra was at least quick about unloading the cargo as he and Natasha deactivated the magnetic fields and waited pinned beneath the vehicle. Steve opened his bag just enough to peer out at the feet around them.

He saw the bases of several column-like chambers around them, but only a few pairs of feet. Natasha was listening with a practiced ear and counted twenty three inside the building. Five were wearing the thick combat boots of soldiers, but whoever else was there- they weren't fighters. Their shoes were soft, running shoes maybe, more comfortable than practical in a battle. Scientists, doctors, maybe technicians. Easy kill, if she and Steve could handle it without anyone shouting or otherwise alerting the outside forces- that _would _be a force to reckon with.

Unloading the truck only took another fifteen minutes, 4 more chambers were added to the collection in the warehouse. The vehicle rumbled to life and pulled through the warehouse to exit on the far side. Steve and Natasha were left alone with the soldiers and the scientists. "Hold," Natasha barely whispered as she unzipped her bag to the brink of turning off the camouflage. She peeked out and scanned the room. One soldier stood to the left of Steve. The others were headed back towards what looked like a break room. It had a large window overlooking the warehouse floor. _Damn._

"One soldier to your left, but the others are in full view of the warehouse. Leave them to me, I think I can get out without this guy seeing me. Wait for my signal."

The agent had his back to Natasha, and so she slowly unzipped the bag, slid out, and re-engaged the camo. She moved as quickly as she could- darting into the shadows behind one of the chambers nearby. There were three rows on this side of the room, each row had roughly twenty pods in it. The other side of the room had four and a half rows. Natasha hoped Steve had a good memory- he would be responsible for finding this kid. Four teams of scientists were crowded around each of the new pods, hooking in much larger power supplies and going over paperwork denoting where the individuals were being transferred. Natasha pulled one of Steve's beacons out of her pocket and activated it. She hid it inside the exposed mechanics of the pod, just behind where the battery hooked in. May's SHIELD team would want to ensure Hydra didn't get these people back, and they had more time to sort friends from foes than she did at the moment.

It was handy that warehouses were built to accommodate assassins, unintentional though it was. The guard's lounge had a nice, comfy air vent that connected it to the main floor, the perfect entrance for Natasha. She watched them from the ceiling and calculated precisely the right moves to eliminate them as efficiently as possible. The tough part would be getting across the warehouse to the scientists once Steve took out the guard in the middle of the floor. "Ready?"

"Ready, on my mark," Natasha pulled up the vent and set it aside in the shaft, "Three," she dropped down onto the table, "Two"- she pulled out her knife and spun, slicing three throats in one motion. Blood sprayed over her. She threw the knife into the head of one more soldier- "One" and kicked the throat of the fifth, smashing his windpipe. She jumped off the table, landed behind him, and snapped his neck, then ran for the door as fast as she could, wiping blood from her eyes as she did, "GO!"

Steve sprang out of the bag as she passed. The guard turned to see who she was, and in that time Steve pulled his legs out from under him and severed his head with a blow from the shield. No prisoners. He threw the shield at a group of the scientists and managed to hit three of them. Natasha pulled an electrified net from her belt, activated it, and launched it at the men and women in front of another pod. Steve caught his shield as it returned and immediately threw it again- wiping out four more.

In all it took around ten seconds to kill twenty-two of the twenty-three inside. Hardly a fair fight. The last person, an overseer, died in his office a few moments later. Steve began running down the rows of pods, peeking into each of them as she handled the man. The frost around the glass made it hard to judge the occupant and he began to lose faith he'd succeed, until he had a sudden flash of inspiration. "Look for one without scratches on the window!" he whispered loudly to Natasha. She took off running down pods on the far side.

Every single chamber showed the struggles of the occupant- bloody scratches on the plastic viewing panel. Not enough to do more than mark the window, but it was enough to signal they were awake and alive. Bucky's description was of a person so defeated they wouldn't even respond to torture- whatever these people struggled against in those chambers, this kid probably wouldn't have even noticed.

"Over here! Row 2!" Natasha whispered, "Whoever is inside, they didn't react to the power cut! Tony, get your ass to this location, _fast_!"

Steve skid to a stop next to Natasha and peered in as best he could. He could just make the outline of long, dirty brown hair, the off-white ripples of scars over most of a body- even the dark patches of bruises were still there. "JARVIS, open the comms wide."

"Done, sir."

"I have eyes on Echo. Bucky, Thor, do you read?" all he heard from that end of the line was panting, gasping, the thunder of Hulk running.

"JAMES, COME BACK!" Thor was shouting. Whatever they were dealing with, they hadn't heard him. The line crackled as signal was lost. JARVIS closed the channel.

"Try again later," Tony replied, "I'm on my way to you now, ETA 3 minutes. Get ready, I'm bringing Suits for you and Natasha too."

Steve looked around the front of the door for a release. There was a large red button, and he nearly hit it, but Natasha stopped him, "We don't know if that's a release or a kill switch. Here," she ran to the back of the chamber and pulled the battery. It immediately shut down. Steve struck the hinges of the door with his shield and shattered them, then Natasha helped him pry it off and set it aside quietly.

Definitely her. The other chambers were filled with people showing all different emotions- horror, fear, resignation, crazed rage- but this girl's face was utterly blank. Bucky's handiwork, "Let's get her to the middle," Natasha and Steve slowly pulled her away from the wall of the chamber, careful to make sure they didn't accidentally leave her skin frozen to the surface. Stark slammed through the roof followed by three suits. A white one ran at them and grabbed the girl, folding her into the interior and securing her in place. Steve tossed his shield to one and ran inside. He went limp and let his arms bend with it to put the shield on its back, then the four took off- accompanied by shouts and an impressive amount of gunfire.

They angled towards Stark's jet as Steve tried again to raise Bucky and the others. There was still just crackling on the line, "Stark, boost the signal!"

"Say please," Tony was already on it, but he liked to taunt Steve.

"Stark!"

JARVIS cut in on their dialogue, "Medical diagnostics indicate the young lady is indeed alive. The medical unit will begin raising her temperature gradually, further information will be available shortly." the report was mostly ignored by Stark for the moment.

"Well now I won't work for anything less than 'Pretty please with sugar on top'. It was tiring, pulling your asses out of there."

Steve swore, "Dammit, can't you just boost the signal without being such an ass? You're working no harder than the rest of us on this, stop acting like a martyr."

"Steve Rogers," Thor's voice came in fuzzy, but clear enough to be understood. It sounded like he was whispering, "we can hear you now."

Steve's heart was racing, "Bucky, can you read me?"

"Yes."

"We found her Bucky. We've got Echo. She's alive." he smiled to himself, proud. Fighting was hell, but that feeling of accomplishment, that pride? It was what he lived for.


	17. Chapter 17

**"Avengers Air" Jet 1 **

Natasha and Clint were arguing when Bucky ran onto the plane, breathless. The suits couldn't fly fast enough for his taste and Tony had _insisted_ he hose off the blood and gore before setting foot on the jet. Thor was watching Hulk back in the forest by Wonju, waiting for Banner to re-emerge so he could ferry him back.

As Bucky looked around Steve approached him, hands up, "We need to talk first-"

"Where he she?" he pushed past Steve and walked quickly down the aisle. The white med suit was laying on a couch at the back, arms folded over its mid-section like a person sleeping, "Is that her?"

Natasha came over, "Why don't you tell us? JARVIS, open the helmet."

The face-plate retracted and Bucky held his breath. The girl inside was unconscious, pale, and still half-frozen. There were black bags under her eyes and one vicious gash- Bucky had done that, trying to get a response from her in the last days of Project Echo. Seeing her like this- looking as if no time had passed- brought forth his darkest memories, but he smiled slightly and nodded, "You found her!" he grabbed Natasha and embraced her- to everyone's surprise, "Thank you."

Natasha cleared her throat and pushed him away gently, "Steve found her. JARVIS, please close the helmet back up," the face-plate slid down. She was stern, sympathetic, but deadly serious, "That's the last time you get to see her."

"Nat-" Clint started to speak but she silenced him with a look.

"I know the person who did this wasn't you," she looked to the suit, "but it doesn't change the fact that he wore your face. Our job is to help this kid, that's the mission you set. Save her. That just isn't possible if you're around her. She's coming with us to Avengers Tower, but she'll be staying with Clint and I. We have experience with this sort of thing, she'll be in good hands, but you will have _no_ contact with her. She won't even know you still exist. If we enter a room in the main Tower, you leave. You don't just hide."

Bucky was nodding to everything he said. He didn't care. She was safe, that was his priority. Natasha kept her eyes locked on him. He realized what she wanted, "I understand, completely. I just want what's best for Echo."

"We're not calling her that," Natasha sat down across from the suit, "if we can get her to tell us her name, great. If not, I won't call her by the name of the _thing_ Hydra was trying to turn her into. It's too cruel."

"I voted on 'Sammy'," Sam came out of the kitchen with a mug of coffee. His attempt at a joke at least helped ease the mood of the room and they all began throwing out names. As soon as Thor and Banner were allowed on the plane they took off, and everyone settled in for the flight back to Avengers Tower. Natasha watched Bucky for a while, trying to read what was going through his mind. He seemed scared, happy, guilty, worried, and at peace, all at the same time. Eventually she drifted off to sleep along with most of the team.

Everyone slept peacefully. That is, until the screaming started.


	18. Chapter 18

**The Valley**

_The valley was desolate, dead, and yet at the same time ever-changing. Sharp, gray stones tumbled and skipped along the ground over one another as silver-black mist roared around him. It never held shape for long- every few minutes it seemed like the shadowy landscape changed. Sometimes the forms were only vague outlines, with buildings forming in the negative space, but sometimes they were so real he felt like he could reach out and touch them._

_A frigid, violent wind made his eyes water and his face sting. It pulled at him, and he struggled to even stand upright. When he looked up he saw a great whirling nether at the center of which was a speck of dead, flat light to illuminate the nightmare._

_Something moved among the shadows before him, hunting. He caught fleeting glimpses of it- sometimes it hunched on four deformed limbs, sometimes it slithered, and sometimes it seemed to rear back and watch. He couldn't see the face, but he knew what it would look like- smashed, fragmented, something that had crawled out of Hell itself._

_It roared over the howling of the winds and began to move towards him, running a lopsided gallop. He turned to run and nearly crashed into her. She was directly behind him, her dead eyes open but unfocused. She saw nothing. He grabbed her, shook her, tried to shout over the roaring of both the wind and the oncoming beast- nothing got through. He saw his own arms- insubstantial as the mist around them. His chest burned with silver light, as did her right arm. The beast's prey, marked for sacrifice._

_The roar sounded again, closer. he turned in time to see it advance- the monster from the shadows. It lashed out with its talons, swiped at him and the girl-_

* * *

Steve jerked awake and dove at the med suit before the screaming even began, "JARVIS, OPEN IT NOW!". Bucky jerked awake and threw himself through the first door he saw and locked himself inside, out of sight as promised. The suit unfolded immediately and Steve grabbed the girl- just in time. As he yanked her away from the dark interior, a shadowy arm came arcing out- shredding the loose fabric at the back of her shirt. It dissolved almost instantly in the light, and the beasts' roar echoed through the plane before fading away into nothing.

His heart was racing. Steve dropped to his knees in front of the girl and spun her, looking for cuts- nothing. At least, nothing _new_. Her eyes were already returning to a dull, glassy state. Within moments any trace of life was gone, and she was back to the blank slate he saw in his dream.

"What the Hell?" Natasha jumped out of her seat and ran over to Steve, "Stark, I thought you said the suits could scan for that thing!"

Tony ran over, typing furiously on a tablet, "It came on too quickly and too strong, the Suit barely detected the anomaly before Cap pulled her out."

Natasha moved the ripped fabric aside and looked at her back. There were plenty of burns and scars- some even looked fresh- but no blood, "It missed her."

"No it didn't," Steve remembered his dream and pulled out her right arm. He turned it over to reveal a long, jagged cut, barely healed, and already turning silver, "It got her five years ago."

"I was sent on a mission two days after she lost her mind," Bucky whispered through the comms, "when I came back they said she had injured herself struggling against the restraints during a session. The fever nearly killed her."

"You were moving before she even made a sound, how did you know?" Clint asked.

Steve shook his head, "No idea. I think- I think that thing drew us in somehow. It was using our scars. It came after us and- and I woke up. I could just _feel_ it."

"She was in the dark, you weren't," Tony had the plane fitted with extra lights as soon as they knew they'd be flying somewhere. It should have been safe.

"It didn't matter," he subconsciously touched the scars through his shirt, "it could use these."

Banner spoke up from a couple rows up, "Are you OK with me collecting blood and tissue samples from you two? See if I can identify whatever is changing the pigmentation of the skin?" Steve nodded.

The girl's eyes were still open, and Natasha carefully turned her head so that they were pointed directly at her, "Hey there," her voice was soft, "don't be scared. We'll keep you safe. It won't hurt you." there was no reaction. The girl just stood there in place. Natasha didn't expect any of this was getting through, but she kept speaking, "It's okay, we're friends. We took you away from Hydra. They won't ever find you again." Natasha felt the _whir_ of the landing gear sliding out through the floor. She squeezed the girl's hand, "We have to sit now-" the girl moved automatically and sat where she was. Natasha pulled her gently towards the seat and she re-located. Her movement was robotic, emotionless. Bucky hadn't exaggerated, she was a shell.

"JARVIS, double the scanners up in Natasha and Steve's living quarters," Tony spoke to the home system, "and put extra suits on patrol there," he looked at the girl and at Steve, covered in sweat and still shaking, "This could get a hell of a lot worse."


	19. Chapter 19

**Avengers Tower **

A week passed without any sightings of the creature, and everyone was thankful for the break. Bucky started meeting with Sam regularly to talk through things and, when he still couldn't sleep for fear of the memories, Thor or Steve would go to the gym with him and practice fighting. Tony tried convincing everyone that a three-on-one fight with the Hulk would be a good idea, but no one saw how that came close to 'fun'.

Natasha and Clint weren't seen around the commons area too often- they continued to get no response from the girl. Whenever Nat entered the lobby, Bucky would excuse himself. He could tell she wasn't a fan of his- especially since JARVIS' full med scan on the girl painted a vivid picture of his handiwork. She didn't have to say anything- Bucky could see her rage in how she moved, and he made it his mission in life to avoid her. Doctor Johansson returned with a small team to begin putting the nameless child back together again and check the recovery of his other patient. He could barely make eye contact with Bucky after examining her.

One rainy afternoon, as Bucky worked on rebuilding a car engine from the 1970s, Clint came in, "How's it going?"

"New engines are more difficult to figure out than I thought. I swear there's a piece missing," Bucky was making an effort to be as amiable as he could around the team- especially Tony. Stark had cleaned out a section of his robotics lab and given Bucky access to his old junk car collection to rebuild on his own. It was Tony's original hobby- before the Iron Man obsession began, and he was happily passing it to the Winter Soldier now.

Clint looked slightly uncomfortable, "Listen, I'm sorry about all this with Nessa, I still don't think there's any reason-"

"Nessa?"

"Inessa," Clint nodded, "Nat couldn't get a name from her so we made one. It means-"

"Pure," Bucky smiled, "it's a good name for her."

Clint gestured to the door, "Can I show you something really quick? I've been having trouble with something, you might be able to help."

"Sure," Bucky pulled off his grease-stained apron and gloves, then followed Clint out to the lounge. He froze as soon as he saw where Clint was leading him.

"See," Clint snickered, "we have an overabundance of cake and gifts, and we need someone to take it off our hands."

"Surprise!" Everyone was wearing party hats and streamers were draped from the lights. All the Avengers (and their friends) were present, including Pepper (allowed back into the building that very day by Tony), Jane Foster (who Bucky only knew from a picture Thor carried around), Mariah Hill and Rhody. Bucky was overwhelmed. He hadn't even _known_ it was his birthday. A giant "98" hung from the rafters and he silently vowed not to tell them that he hadn't even known the year before just then.

Steve came over and clapped him on the back, laughing. He pulled out a large piece of metal with a bow on it and handed it to him, "Couldn't have you finishing too early," the goddamned missing piece!

"You little-" Bucky put him in a headlock with his metal arm, "still no respect for your elders, huh?"

"Uncle, uncle!" Bucky let him go and was quickly swept up in the sea of people. He had to admit that just this once being the center of attention (for a good reason!) felt great, and he couldn't stop smiling.

"You cleaned up well," Pepper came over, smiling, and held out a hand to him. This time Bucky shook it. "Tony speaks very highly of you."

"Woah Pepp," Tony came over, "I have an image to keep up."

"Well then, Bucky, this is just from me," Pepper held up a gift bag.

Tony raised his hand, "My idea!"

Pepper rolled her eyes and prompted Bucky to open the gift. He was curious. He reached in and pulled out a silver frame. Once he realized what it was, his mouth fell open and tears filled his eyes, "Where did you find this?" he managed a whisper.

"The historical society. Steve gave me some background so I could start looking."

The frame held a photograph of his parents on their wedding day. It had been digitally cleaned-up and printed on much nicer paper, but it looked exactly like the one his mother had kept on the mantle in their apartment. He touched the picture. His family. It had been decades since they died, but how he had a piece of his past. He wiped his eyes, "Thank you."

"Happy Birthday," she gave him a hug.

"Are we doing gifts already?" Clint came over with Natasha.

She nodded her greeting, then held out a flat, wrapped package, "An olive branch."

He unwrapped the parcel and looked at it- a tablet? He'd seen the others with similar contraptions, but like Steve he mostly avoided them. Natasha hit a button on the side and video filled the screen- a live feed of Inessa, sitting in the living room of Natasha and Clint's apartment under the guard of two suits, "I turn on cartoons. No sign she's even seeing them, but maybe one day she will."

"Thank you," Bucky had been dying to know how she was doing, it drove him crazy sometimes, this was as precious a gift as Pepper's, "How is she? Have you managed to get anything from her?"

Natasha shook her head, "It would be easier if they'd tried to alter her, like what they did to you. Re-directing someone can be undone with time but you-" she corrected herself quickly, "_they_, they took her to a blank slate. It can take weeks or even _months_ to make progress from there. We just have to hope whoever grows in her place resembles whoever she was."

Bucky nodded, "And no luck identifying her?"

Clint shrugged, "We can't even figure out which country to start looking in. You said she spoke English, but JARVIS' scans say she's got the nutrient and calcium levels of someone from the second or third world. She could be a missionary's kid. No one ever reported her missing- either she'll have to tell us who she is or Hydra will."

"Let me know if there's anything I can do towards that end," Bucky had tried to convince Steve and the others to let him go on a mission to Auckland after Dennisson, but instead they'd installed an electromagnet on any door or window that could open to the outside. Bucky couldn't survive a fight with Hydra without his arm, and couldn't leave the building with it. He'd finally surrendered and agreed to stay (though the magnets remained just in case).

"Can I talk to you- alone?" Natasha lightly grabbed his arm and steered Bucky away from the others towards a quiet corner. "Listen," she sighed, "I just want you to know that I'm not mad at you. You don't have to keep avoiding me, really."

Bucky shifted uncomfortably, "I know what I did, you don't have to pretend it doesn't make your skin crawl-"

"It does," Natasha admitted, "but the only difference between what's in your past and what's in mine is that I _chose_ to kill, maim, torture- whatever was needed. The KGB ripped my soul right out of me, but I could have left before Clint found me, and I knew it. I'm paying for all that now, just like you are and will continue to do in the future. I don't blame the gun- I blame the people who fired it... I'd like for us to be friends, if you're alright with that."

"I am," Bucky nodded.

Natasha smiled, "Now, go- get back to your party. I'm told Tony will actually attempt to light every candle on that damn cake, and it's always fun to see DUM-E roll into a room with the fire extinguisher.


	20. Chapter 20

**Hydra Facility Auckland - New Zealand **

Thomas Dennisson smiled to himself as he worked out the last of the tension his couriers delivery had caused. Seventeen cryo chambers. That's all he'd asked for. Out of a facility that had once held hundreds. Only six arrived. The rest were carted off by the Avengers and some pathetic S.H.I.E.L.D. team. He'd never see his deliveries.

The most frustrating part though had been the loss of the 'Project: Echo' girl. Dennisson's blood began to boil once again at the thought of it all. Strategically speaking the Project was supposed to be a cake walk- a few weeks with the kid tops, then he'd have his commission and be off on the next Project. But no- as soon as the Winter Soldier joined the team it had all gone to hell fast. He remembered spending _months_ planning the whole thing out. A dozen men- eleven to line the alley, one to shepherd her into it. It was his idea to flood the street with high-intensity lights. With powers like hers, they didn't think it would be possible to just take her, but Dennisson had done enough torturing in his life to know the lights would disorient the girl. If that wasn't enough he had a Stark frequency broadcaster running as well. She couldn't move if she tried, couldn't use her little trick to disappear.

Dennisson's lips curled into a half-snarl. He could have handled it. But no, she was too dangers, they had to send in the Winter Soldier- that fuck-up who had to be fixed every other week- and his simple mission had taken _two years_. That idiot had shattered the girl beyond use and Dennisson took the blame once Hydra was finally convinced the Project was a wash- even _then_ the Asset had found a way to screw things up. Dennisson had plans for that girl- things he would do to vent his frustrations- but when Pierce came to decommission the Project _himself,_ the Winter Soldier had convinced him to put her in storage instead.

It ate at him for five years, stung like an open wound. That stupid zombie had deprived him of a toy. Oh, and just when he was finally going to get his closure the bastard had returned and taken her from him again. Plus ten new guard dogs.

He took several deep, cleansing breaths. No matter. He wasn't defeated yet.

"S-sir? I have the reports you were asking for," his assistant and his secretary entered together with the paperwork.

Dennisson growled, "Can't you see I'm meditating?" he didn't turn around.

"Yes, sir. My apologies, I will return later..."

"Forget it, this one's spent anyways," Dennisson dropped the scalpel on the table and turned away from the man there. He'd lasted four days, considering how much stress Dennisson had to vent, he'd been a good distraction, "Fetch me another one later. You know how they calm me." The secretary made a note of it. "Highlight it. What did we get?"

The assistant leafed through the papers quickly, "Mr. Warren, Miss Dent, Mr-"

"I don't care _who_ we got from the Asylum," he rolled his eyes, "I'm asking _what_."

"Ah, sorry sir, we- we have a shape-shifter-"

"Useful."

"-someone who can summon fire-"

"Better."

"-one who can summon ice-"

"I hope they appreciate the irony of being _frozen_ for several years."

"-unstable super-speed-"

"Have them trained in weapons, blades preferably."

"-this one can make people see things that aren't there-"

"I want them shared by tactical and espionage."

His assistant looked at the last chart, "-and a young man who can heal others with a touch."

"Quite possibly the most useful," Dennisson smiled, his thin plan at revenge was suddenly quite plausible, "What's wrong with them? Why were they incarcerated? What even is your name?" he realized he didn't know who the boy was.

"Me? Alfonso, sir," that's why he didn't remember it. Dumb name. He could imagine no situation in which _Alfonso_ would strike fear into others, "the shifter and the fire-summoner have manufactured powers- they were test subjects in other Projects. Their abilities are unstable and they don't have much control, so they were shelved three years ago until Hydra could devise a means of helping them stabilize. Our ice-maker has a terminal illness and requested he be frozen until such a time a cure could be found. Super-speed and the illusionist have personality disorders accented by other mental instabilities. As far as the healer is concerned- his abilities are limited to inflicted injuries- gunshots, knife wounds, broken bones, things like that. He requested he be frozen until such a time as Hydra decided to go to open war."

Dennisson nodded, pleased, "Tell the icy one we have a cure but he'll have to earn it, whatever lies you need to make. The others just have to be kept secure until it's time, perhaps a few months to work out the logistics."

"The logistics of what, sir?"

"I'm going to take them to New York and kill the Winter Soldier and his new superhero friends."

_Alfonso the Terrifying_ was suddenly scared shitless, "The Avengers? Sir, I don't think a handful of unstable-"

As he spoke, Dennisson calmly picked up the scalpel, walked over, and stabbed it into Alfonso's neck. The secretary jumped back as blood sprayed over him. The boy fell, and after a few moments his feet stopped twitching. "Now," he spoke to the secretary, "you are-?"

"Morris, sir," he took off his glasses and made a face at them, "that'll be a pain in the arse to clean off."

Dennisson's mouth twitched into a smile, "Let's see if you can fair better than that idiot," he motioned to Alfonso's corpse, "I've said what I intend to do. He expressed doubt, which was not the correct response. What do you think it is?"

Morris replied immediately, and he was much more confident than his _late_ superior, "If you'll pardon my audacity, sir, as soon as I was informed I would be transferring to your command I used my credentials to access the records room and pull your file. I believe your service record says enough to make any qualms unnecessary. My only question is what I can do to facilitate your objective?"

Much better, "Correct answer," Dennisson smiled, "what you can do is fetch me the Project files on the Winter Soldier, 'Project: Echo', and whatever Projects gave our new friends their abilities. I have some reading to do."

"One more question, sir," Morris was wandering into dangerous territory, hadn't Dennisson just demonstrated how he felt about questions?

"Think your next sentence through very carefully. You've shown promise so far."

Morris smiled, "What preferences do you have for your next set of _meditations_?"

"Surprise me," Dennisson liked the boy already.


	21. Chapter 21

**Avengers Tower **

The kid's screaming woke Tony up first. Any screams in the Tower got the same response these days, "JARVIS, PROTOCOL ONE, NOW!" he dove out of the way as a suit charged in, grabbed an incredulous Pepper, and before she had so much as time to start yelling at Tony the suit hurdled out a window. It wouldn't stop until it had Pepp secured in the D.C. offices. _Then_ he'd be getting an earful.

A few seconds later though Tony was more than happy he'd responded so quickly- the floor shook and Hulk's spine-chilling roar nearly deafened him. He hit his comm, "EVERYBODY UP," as if he needed to say it after _that_, "JARVIS, deploy suits to collect Jane and Inessa, keep them in the air- as high as possible!" the last thing they needed was a civilian and a vegetable in the middle of a Hulk-out.

Thor didn't move until Jane was sealed in her suit and far out of Banner's reach. Bucky and Steve had no one to secure, so they were first to Bruce's door. Bucky intercepted Sam as he ran up the stairs, "Get in the air, guard the girls."

Steve and Bucky readied themselves, then pushed the door open. The lights flickered, and mighty _bangs_ came from near the back. Bucky spun his metal arm, readying for a fight. Steve took point. They'd never tested it but the working theory was his shield should withstand a direct hit from Hulk. He'd absorbed the blow from Thor's hammer, why not one from a gigantic, pissed off, radioactive green creature?

Creeping towards a splintered, dislodged door with Steve at his side and the unmistakable thud of Thor running to join them made Bucky grin, "Stark," he whispered, "you might just get your three-on-one fight after all."

"Or not, I vote for not," Natasha and Clint were on the main balcony, guarding against Hulk. He could hurt a lot of people if he jumped out into the city.

"Fifty on Hulk."

"CLINT!"

"I don't think there will be a fight guys, get in there now." Tony's infrared scans of Banner's room showed- he didn't know what they were showing him, but it couldn't be good.

Bucky broke formation and quickly approached the door. He used his metal arm to rip it out of his way completely, then ducked to the side. Steve and Thor tensed, but only a strangled growling sounded.

"Holy-" Steve lowered his shield and walked in, mouth agape. He pulled off his goggles. The veins of silver that still remained from his brush with the Shadow glowed in the dim light.

Banner's place was totaled in that epic-destruction kind of way only the Hulk could be responsible for. The walls were torn apart right down to the extra-thick steel reinforcements Tony had lined the place in. Even the foot-thick bulletproof window was cracking. Hulk was writing on the floor, growing in a bizarre gurgle. Bucky walked around to see his face and slipped in a pool of green blood. Hulk had claw marks all over his torso- every one of them turning silvery gray. Thin streams of red mixed with the green- it had gotten Banner first, then he'd Hulked out.

Black smoke poured from Hulk's eyes and, when his mouth opened, wafted from within like demented steam. Bucky had a sudden idea- Steve said it felt like this thing was sentient, at least a little. He walked closer to Hulk, stared into those black eyes, and spoke, "Hello?"

There was a titanic roar and Hulk lurched at him, throwing Bucky into a wall and pinning him there. Hulk shook him, beating him against the wall again and again, until he couldn't see anymore.

"BUCKY!"

"JAMES!"

Thor and Steve ran over, but Hulk swept them aside then slammed his open hand over Bucky's face, breaking his nose. Darkness poured out from the Hulk and into Bucky's mind, and in an instant everything went black.

* * *

Neither Bucky nor Hulk died in the coming days, but like Steve and Inessa, they sure as hell came close. The shadow lost all momentum when it passed into Bucky, like whatever strength it had been building was spent subduing the Hulk. Bucky had burned with black flames for only a few minutes, unstable and unaware.

The damage to Hulk's body was severe, so much so that throughout the recovery he couldn't be stabilized long enough to turn back into Banner. After the shadow left him he'd merely whimpered and growled weakly, and continued to do so as the toxin spread throughout his body. At it's height, he was entirely gray.

They learned from the experience the shadow did not need to cut someone to inject them with venom. Bucky hadn't been swiped by the creature, only by Hulk, and yet his skin too turned gray. The silver scars were caused by the creature directly, but the gray skin seemed to be a result of the possession. It explained why Bucky never remembered Inessa turning gray- she was cut, but the beast never had time to enter her mind.

Once Hulk and Bucky were secure in the recovery area, Tony let Inessa and Jane return. He watched Nessa carefully for days, even put her in the room with Hulk (they covered Bucky with a sheet) but nothing happened. The child knew when the Shadow was there- even Steve could feel its presence, but only faintly. It bothered Tony- how could she be numb to everything- even Bucky's best efforts at the end of 'Project: Echo'- yet be so sensitive to something Steve barely noticed through the din of his own mind?

One night curiosity finally got the best of Tony. He went down to the recovery room under the guise of relieving Steve from guard duty (should Hulk decide to _smash_) and sent him upstairs to sleep. As soon as JARVIS verified he'd gone to bed he wheeled in a portable PET scan. Bucky was easy. Hulk? Not so much, but Tony kept moving the scanner around until he figured he had to have a 360 degree view of Hulk's brain. He turned off the lights and very quickly repeated the process, then had JARVIS pump them up to double strength.

While the images processed, he worked on his excuse for Natasha and Clint. It had to be cunning, plausible too- the master spies would be on the lookout for anything suspi-

"Nessa next?" Tony karate chopped thin air as he turned. Natasha was standing with the girl five feet away.

"Natasha, what brings you and the Loch Nessa Monster here at this hour?" he used his pet name for Inessa to sell the innocent act.

"We're thinking the same thing, do the scan." Tony inched backwards and pulled the sheet over Bucky's head, careful to keep him blocked from Inessa's eye line, if she could even see. "I'm getting nowhere with her, it isn't natural. I need to see how much her brain is even processing information."

Tony shrugged, relaxing, "I have specific tests in mind. You won't like them."

Natasha shook her head, "Doesn't matter. To help her we need to know if there's anyone left inside that body."

"Into the operating room then," Natasha held the door as he wheeled the PET scan inside. She instructed Inessa to follow and sit on the table. Tony had her lie down and began to fasten the straps around her arms, legs, and torso.

"Is all that really necessary? She won't move." Natasha protested as Tony added a thick collar and leather strap around her head, totally immobilizing her.

"Oh, I think she'll move a hell of a lot," Tony switched on the scanner over her and, after a few minutes, he turned out the light, "JARVIS, start scanning as soon as the screams begin."


	22. Chapter 22

**Avengers Tower **

Once Tony explained his idea Steve was on-board and voluntarily came in for his scans. Every night the tests were repeated on the four victims until Banner de-Hulked and Bucky began to stir. Once the two were awake it was one more round of scans and Tony sent the data off to a trusted neurologist.

Tony refused to share his suspicions, only his questions- why did Inessa have such a strong reaction to the creature? How much was actually going on in her head? What precisely was the Shadow trying to do when it possessed Bucky, Hulk, and Steve? The second the neurologist called and verified what he'd suspected, he summoned everyone together. He felt proud- no medical knowledge yet he'd made an incredible medical discovery.

"Natasha," he wanted to start strong, "Inessa isn't going to get better. Stop trying."

"Pardon me?"

Tony clicked a button and a suit projected an image on the wall of a brain activity scan, "This is a normal brain," the scan was bright in all the correct places, "and this is your brain on Shadow juju," three images appeared beneath it (he sadly hadn't thought of testing Steve while he was knocked out). In each image the brains were dark with absolutely minimal activity going on. Nothing in the language, visual, or memory centers he'd marked out.

"What's he showing us?" Bucky and Banner were sitting in the corner, blindfolds over their hyper-sensitive eyes.

"Basically, when you're under the influence, you're brain dead. It wears off-" Tony clicked several times- two of the three brains lit up in stages as the toxin began to leave the body. Natasha was just looking at the third.

"Why didn't she recover after she was scratched?" she had a hand on Inessa's back, "Compared to the rest of you, she got the smallest dose."

Tony actually looked down, "No, she got the largest. Remember when Bucky said she'd scream until blood sprayed out of her mouth? JARVIS found no damage to her lungs or throat to explain that. However-" he bent down in front of Inessa, "Open up." She did as she was told, of course. No one had ever thought to check- silver streaks shone clearly inside her mouth. Most of the skin had been torn away at some point. Deep silver gouges showed where the Shadow had grabbed hold and tried to pry off her lower jaw- something Tony had read in the Hydra incident reports. It was one of the favorite methods of killing. "I don't know why it's strength is fluctuating like this, I don't know what it draws its power from, but it gave her a massive dose straight to the head- Bucky, that's why she shut down, it wasn't entirely you. That little scratch on her arm? I'm guessing it was the icing on top of the cake. I don't think she will ever be able to recover. The brain is deteriorating where the missing information is."

"Then what happens when she freaks out?" Bucky was miserable, grasping at any hope he could, "That's gotta prove she's still in there, right?"

"No," Tony clicked his slide again, "These are images of your brains when the lights went off. For those of you who can't see-" he pointed to a particularly bright spot in all of their brains, even Inessa's, "You can all sense it coming, some after effect of the possession. I think you link to the creature in some way. Steve, you said you could barely feel it, and really only when you were asleep?" Steve nodded, "It's the same for all of you, it's just that Loch Nessa has nothing else going on- a head that empty, it's gotta sound like it's screaming. Hell, maybe it is. Maybe there's something residual about the possession. It gets close enough to link and when the monster screams, part of you screams too." he glanced at Inessa, "Oh, um, close your mouth."

"The only thing I can't figure out is why the Shadow is doing this. Why shut the brain down?" Tony rubbed his head.

Bucky had the answer, though Steve had also considered it several times, "It wants a body. I could feel it pushing me down, trying to force me out. I think it knows as long as it is in this form it's too limited. That's why it came for Inessa so hard and fast- she's a blank slate. No personality to wipe out, no memories to stamp down. Plenty of room to grow."

"We can't let it get her," Clint was adamant, "no matter what, we don't hand her over. There's still a snowball's chance in hell she'll get better, maybe it's just going to take longer to ware off for her."

Thor patted him on the shoulder, "No one is suggesting we allow the beast to take her form."

"We have to go back to page one," Sam was thinking hard, "take another look at 'Project: Helius' and figure out what the hell was going on there. It just doesn't fit that they'd make something sentient out of a radiation leak. It has to be one of the scientists, or a janitor- someone who isn't accounted for in the file we found. This thing is too smart to be a simple predator."

Everyone was silent after that, lost in their own thoughts. There were too many angles, too many sides to all of this. Bucky agreed with Sam's assessment though- it felt like when he was rebuilding that engine. He knew the story, but a piece was missing, a _big_ piece. Until they figured out what exactly was going on with the Shadow they were all going to be at risk, especially Inessa. His mission was only half-complete. He had Echo, now it was time to save her.


	23. Chapter 23

**Avengers Tower **

_Everything was charred and crumbling to dust. Bucky walked through the shell of the once-magnificent Avengers Tower. Beams blocked his way much of the time, but he still managed to chart a path._

_He guessed he was in the lobby, but it was impossible to say for sure. The upper floors had been blown out over the surrounding city and only the steel skeleton remained- even that was patchy at best. His boots crunched over broken glass and debris. At one point he stopped to pull a photograph out from under the twisted remains of a- hell, he didn't even know what. It was damaged, but Bucky could make out the faces at least. Steve, Natasha, Clint, Banner, Thor, Sam, Tony- then a handful of people he didn't know. He wasn't there. Someone stood in the center, but it was impossible to say who. It wasn't him- whoever it was, their left arm rested on Tony's shoulder._

_He felt like it had been years since he'd been here. Around him he saw fleeting glimpses of memory- wrestling with Thor in the gym, his birthday in the commons, fixing engines, watching Banner and Stark work on designs for new suits- and something else. Something Bucky hadn't lived through yet- Fighting. Rage and arguments, lectures and apologies. His heart ached with the pain of it all. But beyond anything it was the silence in the Tower that hung heavy over him._

_If this was the main floor, he should be able to find his way to the balcony._

_Just enough light filtered in from outside to help Bucky in his search. He made out the remains of hallways and doors. One wall stood intact near what had been the medical lab. It was covered in deep claw marks, still seeping silver poison. Still holding the photograph in his right hand, Bucky reached out with his left to touch the liquid. _It's okay_, he thought, lowering his eyes, _probably not the best idea anyways_. His arm was gone. He didn't remember it being taken or destroyed, it simply wasn't there, and that was fine. At least- he pretended it was._

_She was waiting for him on the balcony. Bucky walked out of the rubble and stopped just behind her. She was tall, almost as tall as he was. Her dark hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail- the best way to keep it out of her face. She wore black pants made from some sort of dense cloth, and a black leather tank top fitted with Kevlar plates- a uniform made for a fighter. Bracers protected her fore and upper arms, and her hands were covered by finger-less gloves. She thumbed two long-handled scythes looped into her belt- small reaper blades. Bucky's eyes were drawn to a small black and silver bug-like contraption on her neck- some kind of machine. He didn't trust it, but he knew better than to say anything._

_"What happened here?" he whispered, somehow it felt right. Avengers Tower was like a tomb._

_"You're the one who was supposed to stop it," she looked out over the city, "You brought it here. You said it would be safe. And where the hell were you when everything burned?"_

_Bucky looked down, ashamed. They stood in silence for a long while, "You asked for my help. At least tell me what did all of this."_

_She scoffed, "As if you didn't know this would happen when you abandoned us. Turn around."_

_Bucky did as she said, and instantly regretted it._

_The scenery shifted- he wasn't on the balcony anymore, he was standing in Astana. In that room- only it was different. No torture table sat in the center, the walls weren't fitted with the extra lights- they were lined with windows that looked into a massive lab filled with important-looking machinery. Bucky walked through a sliding door as if in a daze. Scientists ran from machine to machine, panicked. Something was wrong- so, so wrong. Bucky couldn't quite hear their shouts, and they moved as if through molasses. He walked towards the center of the room- towards a creature of infinite darkness._

_The scientists didn't acknowledge it, and Bucky wished more than anything that he could turn and run screaming. They didn't see it- they didn't know it stood there, watching him approach with that psychotic, unnatural grin. That was the most terrifying thing about it. That grin. He forced himself to stare the beast down, even though with every second he felt like his heart would stop beating. His palm sweated and his hand shook. He felt like a child facing a monster._

_It had curved ears tucked tight against it's head. The grin wasn't from a mouth so much as a flattened muzzle. The nose was severely pointed, leathery. It's body was made for standing on two legs, but it hunched as if it wanted to run on four. The bottom legs were constantly shifting form, but the feet were long and narrow- made for running great distances at high speeds. If he ran, it would catch him and rip him apart before he even made the door. The arms were long, but seemed out of proportion to the rest of the body- the hands ended in massive talons that created the illusion the forearm extended nearly to the floor. Silver poison dripped from those talons._

_When Bucky forced himself to look the creature in the eyes, though, he stopped breathing. They were large, but not dark like he'd expected- or hoped. They burned with silver flame, too bright, too alert, too intelligent. It was the intelligence that horrified him. It was definitely not some simple predator- this thing was cunning, calculating, and pitiless. Bucky had been trying to speak with the creature when it possessed the Hulk- but this thing wasn't something you reasoned with. It was something you ran from._

_Something happened in the lab- everything erupted in an explosion of lights and machinery. The beast threw back it's head and roared, something in the fabric of the world changed, and it was _free_. Bucky tore his eyes away and saw a scientist staring at the creature. He opened his mouth and screamed- tried to point to it- and was engulfed in flames as the lab was blasted apart._

* * *

Bucky woke with a scream and shot up in bed. He ripped the cloth from his eyes- ignoring the pain as light seared them. He needed light, he needed to see, needed to know it couldn't get him. His bed was in complete disarray- most of the sheets had been pulled up. Sweat drenched everything, made his nightshirt cling to his skin.

He had to wait ten minutes before he could force himself out of the bed. The door was wooden- he was half grateful for it and half terrified of what he'd see on the other side. Bucky opened it, whimpering slightly. Nothing was in the living room. He needed to see Steve, Thor, Banner- anyone. He had to know they were safe. That it was all just a horrible nightmare- the Tower wasn't destroyed, the beast wasn't watching him. He could feel it though, in the back of his mind where that connection would always be. It was like the thing was always just behind him, just over his shoulder. Bucky pressed his back to the wall and took several deep breaths. He inched his way to Steve's room and opened the door- empty.

Bucky's heart started pounding, he was hyperventilating. His mind was thoughtless panic.

"Hey, you OK?" Sam's voice cut through his fear. He couldn't help it, he was too relieved. Bucky grabbed Sam and pulled him into a hug. He released him a moment later, but kept his metal arm on Sam's shoulder, grounding him, "I'll take that as a no. Shit, you look horrible, what happened?" Bucky's eyes were red, strained. He put his hand over them to block out the light, "You're going to do permanent damage if you don't keep those covered."

"I saw it," Bucky was still panting for air,_ "_I saw the creature." he couldn't describe it- the words wouldn't form. Even just picturing it in his mind made his sense of it stronger- like his thoughts pulled it closer and closer. He felt its breath on the back of his neck- cold, dead. Sam wouldn't be able to see it, but he knew it was there. "We're all going to die."


	24. Chapter 24

**Upstate New York**

While Bucky dreamed of the Shadow, Steve was driving out of the city. He left at dawn to find a deserted field, far from prying eyes. Once he found a site he deemed suitable, he activated a beacon. For hours he sat on the grass, eying his watch wearily. He had to be back before the sun set, before the shadows gathered...

Steve was grinding his teeth anxiously, going over any excuse to risk staying even a half hour longer when the whirring of helicopter blades announced the team's arrival. At least, he'd been hoping for the team. Only Agent May showed up. "What do you need, Captain Rogers?"

"Simmons. We have a situation, we need someone with her expertise, badly."

May shook her head, "We have a situation of our own, we can't spare her. Is there anyone else you can pull in?" Steve shook his head and May shrugged, "I'm sorry then, what she's doing now has to take priority."

"Just look," Steve was wearing his civilian clothes. He pulled off his jacket and yanked his t-shirt over his head, exposing his bare chest- and the thick, silver scars that marked him. May said something in Cantonese he was fairly certain wasn't PG, "Something piggy-backed Bucky when we took him out of Astana. It's tying to pick us off. We've been lucky so far, that's all. We need Simmons to help figure this out."

"What kind of something?"

Steve shrugged, "Clint got a glimpse of it, scared him half to death. All we know is it seems to materialize through shadows- it can't stay in the light very long. Yet. It's-"

"-You can have Simmons. We'll make it work. That's what Sam was looking for when he started asking about 'Project: Helius'?" Steve nodded. May was pale, tense.

"You've seen this thing before?"

She ran a hand through her hair, it was the first time Steve had seen her like this (granted, he didn't have much experience with Agent May), "SHIELD has dealt with this thing over the last twenty years or so. Attacks all over the world. I've never seen a survivor though," she looked pointedly at Steve.

He was hopeful, "And? Did you find out anything about it?"

"Not _it," _May was eying the sun now too as it slunk towards the horizon, "_them_. You've seen one so far?" He nodded, visibly paler, "Then count yourself lucky, because it travels with a pack."


	25. Chapter 25

**Avengers Tower**

May was kind enough to help load Steve's motorcycle into the back of the helicopter and fly him to Avengers Tower, though she was hesitant to land there. On the way he grilled her about the Shadow- or _Shadows_, if SHIELD's original theory held water. The attacks went unnoticed for years, before an Agent started putting the files together. May had never seen a survivor, but the Avengers weren't the only ones who made it through the attacks. Survivors were very few and very far between- out of nearly 150 attacks, only 17 had survived. Of those, only 4 could remember seeing the creature. They all described the same thing-some sort of massive beast, indistinct. Those 4 who remembered were attacked over a 8 year period, and their descriptions indicated the creature was becoming more powerful- assuming a gradually distinct form.

Other than that, SHIELD knew nothing. People separated by entire _oceans_ were attacked simultaneously on only 5 occasions, which is why SHIELD decided there must have been more than just one. If it could use shadows to transport itself, though, it didn't rule out or in the possibility of only one creature leaving blood and bodies in it's wake.

SHIElD's research into the beast, coupled with what Sam had found out from their 'Project: Helius' file and Astana incident reports indicated the creature had been there, in captivity, for _years_. If people were being attacked all over, then there were definitely two. At least. _God save us if they really hunt in a pack_. Steve pulled his cycle out of the helicopter and waved to May, who flew as quickly as she could to retrieve Simmons.

Steve left the bike outside and headed in. As soon as he crossed the threshold he saw Tony, waiting, "I've got new intel on the Shadow-"

"Talk to your boyfriend," Tony cut him off and pointed back towards the engineering lab, "he beat you to the punch."

"What?" Steve walked quickly with Tony following. He pushed the doors open and Bucky jumped. He was still terrified, still twitchy.

"I went to see if he wanted to join Clint and I for breakfast," Sam explained, "He was having a panic attack, nearly wet himself when I came up behind him. We can't get much out of him," he warned, "he says he saw it, but he won't describe the thing. He's convinced even talking about it somehow draws the creature out. And check this-"

Steve came around to stand behind Bucky, who was staring into spice, wide-eyed, "He kept saying it was behind him, so I took a look." Bucky's hair was pulled up into a short ponytail, exposing the back of his neck. Steve angled so the light shone directly onto it- it was moist, and even as he watched the moisture seemed to shift outward- like something was breathing on him. "We can't make it stop, we've tried everything. Whatever happened to Bucky last night, that thing has him locked in.

"Shit," Steve swore softly, then walked back in front of Bucky and crouched down so he was squarely within his friend's eye line, "Hey, we're going to figure this out, OK? Help is coming. We'll break the connection." Bucky just nodded, he was more scared than Steve had seen him in- well, decades.

"What about you?" Tony piped up, "You said you had-"

"-news from SHIELD, right. Thanks," he prayed Tony would take the hint and drop the issue. They didn't need to be any more freaked out than they already were- especially Bucky, "They're giving us Simmons to help figure things out." Tony watched him a moment, then nodded. Cap could keep his secrets, for now. Steve considered telling Bucky his hope that Simmons would be able to break the connection between them and the Shadow, but he held back. Telling him now wouldn't change anything, and if Simmons couldn't find a fix? Steve didn't want to think about that. If she couldn't create some sort of anti-venom, chances were good the team would continue to be picked off, one by one.

* * *

At precisely 7 o'clock Steve woke up to a knock on the balcony door. He'd slept in a chair in the lounge, ready to let Simmons in as soon as she arrived. He scrambled to his feet and ran around to the door. When he saw the small scientist he breathed a sigh of relief and had JARVIS unlock the doors for her. Simmons blinked hard in the bright room, "Sorry about that," he apologized quickly as the door locked again behind her. It was going to rain most of the week, they couldn't even rely on daytime for a reprieve from the Shadow now- the clouds were too dense, "did May fill you in on the situation here?"

Simmons was loaded down with bags of medical equipment and books. Steve took half the load in one hand and escorted her to the medical lab as she replied, "I thought it would be best if you explained. What precisely do you need from me, and what work have you already done to solve your problem?"

Steve paged Tony to come down and explain everything to Simmons regarding the venom and the brain scans he'd run. She listened intently, interrupting on occasion to clarify results or inquire as to his process. As soon as Tony finished speaking, Simmons drew blood and tissue samples from Bucky, Hulk, Inessa, and Steve, then ran fresh scans on all of them with her own equipment. By lunch she'd kicked everyone out of the lab so she could run her tests and process the results. Simmons promised nothing, but she seemed optimistic.

Bucky had calmed down only slightly from the day before. He busied himself in the mechanics workshop with yet another engine to rebuild, but Steve could tell he was still frightened of whatever it was he saw in his dreams. It was frustrating more than anything- someone _somewhere_ had to know something about this thing, what it was, how to contain it, maybe even how to kill it, but Steve left his crystal ball in the 1940s and that was precisely what it would take to get any answers.

It was nearly 3am when Simmons called up to Natasha and Clint's apartment and asked them to bring Inessa down. She needed a test subject, and all that was left of Inessa was what the Shadow's toxin hadn't destroyed- making her the perfect person to test an anti-venom on. "It's rough," Simmons warned, "it probably won't work on a large scale, but I think it's worth a shot."

"You're the boss," Clint had heard of the young doctor- he hoped none of it was exaggerated. Fury was certainly a fan.

Simmons produced a syringe filled with a slightly green liquid and injected it slowly into the vein of Inessa's arm. She waited ten minutes, then started taking more tissue samples and ran scans every half hour for three hours. The results were promising. "There's a seven percent decrease in the presence of the venom in her blood stream," Simmons announced, "Which means I just have to isolate which part of the anti-venom is working and try to find a way to enhance it so we can make that seven percent at least a seventy."

She kept Inessa for the next couple days and ran scan after scan on the girl. Everyone took a shift sitting in the observation room and waiting for any sign of results. Simmons worked tirelessly until, at long last, she was ready to test her serum on the others.

"Do Banner," Bucky nodded to the man, "I don't want the cure."

"Wait, what?" Steve was confused, "You're not sleeping, you're not eating, and you _want_ to stay like this?"

Bucky nodded, "If we're all cured, no one will be left to warn the others when it attacks again. Until we figure out how to kill it, I need to keep the advantage."

"Natasha and I sensed it before it even attacked," Clint pointed out, "Steve, you said you knew it was there before it got you too." Steve nodded, "Keeping that stuff in your veins might just give it even more purchase here. You need this injection."

Bucky shook his head, stubborn as always, "It's the right call. I know it is."

"I will leave you plenty of anti-venom," Simmons announced, "if you change your mind, you can take some later on." he nodded.

Banner offered his arm to her and waited patiently for the anti-venom to take effect. After a few minutes, his goggles seemed to make the world darker and darker, until he was forced to take them off entirely. By the half hour mark his normal vision returned. He breathed a sigh of relief, "I have to say, it goes down smooth," Banner shook Simmons' hand.

Steve was up next, but he didn't see any change. His silver scars remained, as did Banner's. Simmons still had work to do, but curing the venom was an excellent start.

"Now," she turned to Natasha and Clint, "Inessa is an unusual case-"

"-yeah, we're getting that." Clint smiled.

Simmons laughed politely, "She was given a massive dose of the toxin almost directly to her brain, and a _second_ dose later on. I've found evidence that her body may in fact be producing the venom on its own now- albeit in extremely limited quantities. It's unusual behavior for a venom, you see this sort of thing in HIV- it can convert cells in the body to replicate its own DNA structure. The anti-venom will work, and I will continue to search for a more permanent solution, but it will take much more time than this serum. Inessa will need injections every twelve hours to keep the levels down. If you maintain this regiment, I believe her brain will recover sufficiently to begin forming _new_ memories. Whoever she was before is gone, but that doesn't mean her life is over."

"Aye aye, doc."

May was there first thing in the morning to pick up Simmons. She was sorry to go- if it weren't for Skye and her _condition_ she'd have stayed to monitor Inessa's progress. "I'll keep working through the samples," she promised Steve, "refine it a bit more. Do keep me informed of their progress? And take samples from Inessa every other day- I don't know how quickly her body may adapt to the injections."

Steve smiled and held the helipad door open, "It's all written down, don't worry. We owe you for all your help. Anything you need, don't hesitate to ask," he held up a small, gift-wrapped box,"a token of my appreciation."

Simmons opened the box and immediately threw her arms around Steve in a quick hug. She was bouncing in place, excited- a vial of Steve's blood! He laughed, "Just no replicating the serum- even if the recipe is written out in big letters in there, deal?"

"Deal! And I'll copy you on everything I find!" she was still beaming as she climbed into the helicopter. Fitz got in before her and helped pull her and the gear the rest of the way.

"What did Captain Rogers give you?" he asked.

"You were standing right next to me, weren't you paying attention?"

"I was a bit busy, wasn't I?! Going over YOUR bloody notes- it's impossible to read your writing."

Simmons buckled in and the helicopter took off, "he gave me a blood sample, if you must know, so I can complete my research into Erskin's serum."

"Ah," Fitz understood, "that's why you said you wanted to drop it with the lab boys, so they could start analyzing it for you while you worked on Bucky's blood."

"No, silly," Simmons smiled pleasantly, "Bucky didn't want to be cured, remember? It's just Inessa's samples I brought back."

Fitz returned the smile, "Of course, how foolish of me." May started her landing pattern by a series of warehouses. Men in black suits waited by an open area, "I'll get started on the Captain's sample, as you requested."

Simmons handed him the vial and he climbed out, "Thanks Fitz!" he waved and the chopper took off again.

"Good work," Morris stepped forward and shook Tyson's hand, "I'm very impressed. Your gift will most certainly come in handy." He nodded to the vial, "Is that Mr. Barnes' sample?"

Tyson sneered and handed it over, "Mr. Rogers, actually."

Morris' grin was almost manic, "Impressive indeed! Your reward just tripled. I'll send the boys over with the next two installments by the end of the day," a guard handed a duffle bag filled with cash to Tyson, "Your next mission is in there too. If you do half as well as you did today, you'll continue to dwarf even our most lofty expectations."

"I gotta say, it's nice to put my _gifts_ to use."

"I'll never understand why Hydra put _you_ in the Asylum. With your help, they would have ruled the world."


	26. Chapter 26

**Hydra Facility Auckland - New Zealand**

"Where have you been?" Dennisson didn't look up from his papers as Morris entered.

"I was retrieving the materials on 'Project: Indigo', as instructed. My apologies for the tardiness. Mr. Tyson has been placed in New York, sir."

"Who the hell is Tyson?"

"The Asylum prisoner who creates visions, he will be your man on the ground there."

Dennisson had given Morris free reign to insert a spy, he was impressed with how quickly the work was completed, "And what did you bring me of 'Project: Indigo'?"

"If you would, sir, I believe you will be most pleased with our efforts." Morris gestured to the door.

"I better be," Dennisson stood and wandered out of the room. He was growing weary of the moans from his new toy in the corner anyways, and the doctors advised a couple hours rest for _it_. This one was going to last a disappointingly short period of time.

Morris walked around him and opened a door just down the hall. He waited for Dennisson to enter before he spoke, "Most of the files were lost in recent SHIELD raids," he explained, "but thankfully the machine was retrieved intact."

It as a frightening contraption- long needles and crude restraints built around a rusting operating table. Ports and tubes connected it to the main control unit, which Morris crossed to, "Simply insert the subjects blood in this port, and a sample of blood from the person with the ability you wish to replicate over on this side."

"But our new friends abilities are unstable. Why?"

Morris shrugged, "They are learning to control them. It is not second nature, as it was for the original subjects. To that end, I also took the liberty of having Mr. Tyson secure a blood sample from a _unique_ individual to clone over yours, if I have understood your intentions correctly?"

Dennisson smiled wickedly, "What have you brought me?"

Morris held out the vial, "My initial plan was to retrieve the Winter Soldier's blood, but Tyson found an opportunity to secure a sample from Captain America himself."

"Excellent work!" Dennisson was practically drooling. The Winter Soldier had a bastardized serum- but Captain America's abilities were more pure than even the infamous Red Skull. "Triple whatever you paid Tyson. And have the scientists go over this machine, I want it working within two days."


	27. Chapter 27

**Avengers Tower **

Bucky watched over Inessa day and night via the tablet. The child was hunted by the Shadow, and as it grew in strength they were at a loss to challenge it. Natasha injected the anti-venom faithfully every 12 hours, but they saw no change. It was like a piece was still missing, and as the weeks rolled on Bucky had no idea where to look.

He didn't sleep much. None of them did- but Bucky was the only one with the Shadow breathing down his neck (quite literally most of the time) and all he could do was try to keep himself busy. Tony gave him completely unlimited access to his classic car warehouse and Bucky ordered one of his father's old 1940 Chevrolet Street Rods brought up for restoration. No more engine rebuilds, now he had the entire thing. There was also Netflix, which allowed him to make great strides in his understanding of the modern world with Steve and Thor (it also provided a fantastic mental escape from the stress and strain in the Tower).

"I do not jest!" Thor argued one night as they watched some 'Sherlock Holmes' movie, "Do you not also believe this Sherlock resembles our Tony Stark?"

"Please," Steve laughed, "you said the exact same thing about the guy in 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang'."

"And you swore you saw my twin in 'Hot Tub Time Machine'," Bucky pointed out, "I think you're losing it."

"Do all of us Midgardians just look the same to you?" Steve was mock-offended. Thor laughed and gave him a light shove- he flew to the other side of the room and hit Bucky. All of their movie nights included a wrestling match these days.

Bucky and Steve had Thor pinned down (not for long) when Bucky felt it- that fear growing in his mind. The Shadow was coming. Thor's head jerked back suddenly and he made a desperate, choking noise. A moment later Steve flew across the room into the television. Thor dove after him, pinned him to the wall, and with a single blow crushed his rib-cage. He dropped Steve and turned to Bucky.

Black flames burned in his eyes. He watched Bucky like a predator- moving slowly towards the door all the while. A muscle near his nose twitched- was he snarling?

"What do you want?" Bucky demanded, "You can't have her. You know we'll keep her safe. _What do you want_?"

Thor roared at Bucky and attacked. The human was faster- it wasn't hard to dodge his blows, the real danger was if one connected. Thor- or rather the thing controlling him- aimed for Bucky's face, then when he ducked swung his left fist to connect with Bucky's stomach. He flew backwards into the window. It was reinforced- he didn't go for any late night flight, but he came damn close. Bucky crumpled to the floor, gasping for breath. Thor took off out of the room. "It's got Thor!" he coughed the words out, "Get Nessa out of here!"

"Sam!" Natasha, several floors up, grabbed Inessa and dragged her to the balcony.

"Oh my way!"

A dull and distinctly _Hulk_ roar echoed through the tower. Banner would slow it down, at least.

Bucky scrambled over to Steve. Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth, he looked bad, "I'm fine, you go."

Bucky wasn't buying it. He ripped Steve's shirt open- his torso was already turning purple, "Internal bleeding. I'm not leaving until-" a white med suit ran in flanked by two other remotes. Bucky smiled, "until now." he patted Steve on the shoulder and got out of the suits way. Once it had Steve secured inside, he ran out the door to catch up with Thor.

He found him on the landing of Banner's floor, locked in a wrestling match with Hulk. The "Jolly Green Giant", as Tony put it, was pinning him down as best he could, but the beast inside Thor fought viciously- gnashing it's jaws at Hulk's throat, kicking out randomly. Bucky grabbed a leg with his metal arm and pinned it down, but it barely helped. The creature had Thor's strength, and Bucky couldn't anchor himself. He was tossed about with every kick, but at least his added weight was tiring the demi-god out.

Natasha and Clint came running down the stairs followed closely by Tony. Between the three of them they brought four large spotlights, which they turned on at full-blast and dropped around Thor. He roared and, slowly, the darkness faded from his eyes. When he stopped kicking, Bucky held out a hand behind him. Natasha gave him a needle full of anti-venom, and Bucky stabbed Thor in the leg.

"Kill the lights," Bucky's eyes were burning. The three did as he asked and he crawled around Thor to inspect him. Hulk tipped back to sit against the wall, panting. For a stupid, tiny human(oid), the man was strong. Bucky lifted both eyelids- jet black, as expected. He remembered how Thor had convulsed as they wrestled. No part of him should have been in shadow- every room of the Tower was fully lit! _Except_\- he'd been pinned down very close to the couch, and Tony didn't have lights in the floors. Bucky carefully turned Thor's head to the side and pushed up his hair. A long cut ran along the back of his neck, already turning silver.

"Sam, stay out there for a few more minutes. JARVIS, give us house lights at 100%," Tony wanted to make damn sure the Shadow was gone. Even if that meant blinding everyone.

Bucky closed his eyes and concentrated. He could feel it close by, watching, waiting for them to let their guard down. Wherever it was perched, Tony's lights flooded it out and it let out a loud, echoing roar before being blasted back to wherever it came from. It was trapped, the Shadow was depleted, but it was also encouraged somehow.

"Everything alright?" Bucky opened his eyes. Banner stood over Thor. He was still slightly green, but it was fading.

"I think so, but... It's happy about something. Like we did it a favor."

"I don't like the sound of that." Tony rubbed his neck.

Natasha waited 5 minutes before calling Sam back from his flight around Avengers Tower with Inessa. By then the med suit had a report on Steve.

"Four broken ribs, punctured lung, and a ruptured spleen," JARVIS sounded cheerful. Tony decided with all the tension in the tower any bad news should be presented as good news. It was a supremely _bad_ idea. "Beginning automated surgery now. Chance of survival at 99%."

Tony whistled, "Damn, Thor packs a punch," the god moaned in response and slowly covered his eyes, "ooh, well done Simmons."

Thor was sitting up within minutes, though he did throw up a few times, "What has happened?"

"The Shadow got you," Clint tapped the back of Thor's neck, "Right there."

Thor felt the cut himself and shuddered, "My last recollection was of us arguing while we watched 'Sherlock'-"

"Oh! The one with the guy who looks like me!" Thor pointed at Tony and looked at Bucky as if to say _'told you so!'_

"I still don't see it."

"Did I- was anyone harmed?" the tone became serious quite suddenly. Thor looked at the faces around him- there was no Steve Rogers, or Sam Wilson.

Bucky shook his head, "The Shadow did a number on Steve, he's in surgery, but he knows it wasn't you."

Thor could feel Heimdal's eye, watching, "Do not worry, old friend. We will defeat this foe. Keep the Bifrost closed, and report none of this to my father or the Warriors Three. Please." the sense faded. Heimdal was content to listen to his Prince.

Tony spiraled a finger around mid-air to trace the universal gesture for 'Kookie'.

"Any new insights? Did you see anything?" Clint prompted. Thor sorted through his memories as best he could- he had considerably more to quiet down than the others had. He paled slightly, but shook his head.

"I learned nothing. James Barnes, can you help me to my quarters? I believe I may be ill yet again." Bucky helped pull him up and the others gave them space. Thor seemed well enough- he made it to his apartment with no help from Bucky.

Once inside though he closed the door, waited for the sounds of Clint, Natasha, and Tony passing to their own floors, and slid down the wall to sit on the hard marble. Bucky crouched next to him, "What did you see?"

"Our enemy is no longer alone," he sighed, "it has summoned many, many companions. James Barnes, I believe you were correct when you said we shall all perish. It means to attack soon."


	28. Chapter 28

**Avenger's Tower**

"OK guys, you know the drill," Tony paced as he addressed the Official Stark Industries clean-up crew, "The TV room is in need of a new wall and flatscreen, Hulk smashed his front door again, there are two broken windows- one in the TV room, one in the penthouse- and there's probably other damage. Just wander around and fix whatever you see that's broken. Black Widow wants more lights in her place and in the stairwells, and someone needs to team up with DUM-E to install a launch pad in the guest quarters so Falcon can take off from his bedroom. Also- who the hell are you?" he stopped in front of a new face on the crew. This guy was thin, small, and kind of mean looking.

"My wife's cousin," his Foreman nodded to the boy, "needed some work for the summer, and at the rate you have us up here fixing things lately, we need the extra muscle.

"Muscle?" Tony cocked an eyebrow- the guy couldn't be more than 140 soaking wet, "Anyways, split up however you want. Each group gets a remote suit supervising. I apologize for the inconvenience in advance- but no cutting power to do electrical work. Let the suit handle that. Lights stay on in all rooms at all times." He wandered off to check on Cap and find something to annoy him with.

"Alright men, you have your assignments already. Tyson, as requested you will be going with Nash and Rodriguez to get some electrical experience. They are installing extra lights in the penthouse and the Captain's place, got it?"

Tyson nodded, pleased. Getting into the Tower was simple. Getting onto the crew was a cake-walk. The real fun would be the aftermath- and Dennisson promised him a front-row seat to the slaughter.

* * *

**New York Ferry, One Week Later**

Dennisson watched New York rise out of the early morning fog. The "City that Never Sleeps" looked, well, tired. He focused on Avengers Tower, looming over the rest of the city like a sentinel. The top several floors were illuminated- the heroes, ever vigilant.

"I want to see inside," Dennisson growled. Morris produced a laptop and within only a few keystrokes he had a feed.

"Mr. Tyson was only able to plant three devices and five cameras. All run on a special encrypted feed. Mr. Stark's in-house system should not be able to detect them."

"If they do, I'll take you apart. Slowly."

He took the computer and flipped through the available feeds. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Gold. The Winter Soldier was in a workshop of some kind, having a very serious discussion with two people Dennisson did not recognize.

"That one is Clint Barton, codename Hawkeye," Morris indicated one of the men, "the other we believe to be Dr. Bruce Banner, the host of the creature known as the Hulk."

"Why don't I have sound?" Dennisson asked through gritted teeth.

Morris watched him carefully. Ever since they put him through the 'Indigo' device his temper was shorter, his rages more violent, and his victims lasted mere _hours_ instead of days. He was devolving, quickly, "Our intel indicated if we were to add microphones the possibility of the technology being discovered by the house system increased by a factor of six. Also, our devices give off a frequency which would significantly diminish the clarity of audio signals. We do have a lip reading program if-"

"-silence." Morris obeyed, though he continued to eye Dennisson. He was beginning to suspect his employer was a fast burner- they show promise, yet let themselves fall to other, baser influences. Dennisson may not be aware, but Morris' job was to keep him on-mission, as any good minion should. Dennisson was different now. He wasn't making Morrison's job any easier.

After several minutes, Dennisson changed cameras. His eyes lit up, "So, they thawed her out after all." Echo looked as much like a zombie as ever. She was guarded by the Black Widow. Who else? There was talk among Hydra's upper echelon, long ago, of partnering the Winter Soldier with the infamous Natalia Romanova. That they were together now (on the wrong side) wasn't surprising.

"May I ask a question?" Morris prompted, "To be as useful to you as possible I believe I must inquire into the ending of this 'Project: Echo'. Why was the subject sent to the Asylum rather than given to you for termination?"

"The mongrel saved her," Dennisson switched back to the feed of the Winter Soldier, "A Project as high-level as Echo had to be closed by a top Hydra official. In that case, Alexander Pierce himself. The Winter Soldier made a deal with him to have pity on the girl. Made me look like a damned idiot for not wiping him before Pierce arrived. The girl went into the freezer and the Soldier became Pierce's little errand boy."

Morris didn't understand, "Why not order the Winter Soldier to serve him? Why make the deal?"

Dennisson growled, "Maybe because Pierce liked to pretend to be an upstanding man, of a higher moral ground than most of Hydra. It didn't matter that the Winter Soldier couldn't remember making the bargain, all that mattered was he could pretend to be merciful and benevolent. That's my theory anyways. Pierce was a fucking useless man. Who knows why he did anything."

As they closed in on the docks, Avengers Tower was blocked from view. Dennisson studied the tablet. Whatever the Winter Soldier was talking about with the others, he looked anxious. _Looks like he's doing well enough_, he thought, _new friends, new home, new life. He's even working through some of that guilt- bringing Echo here. _"Activate the first device," Dennisson ordered, handing the laptop back to Morris, "let's remind our _friend_ just who he was."


	29. Chapter 29

**Avengers Tower **

Bucky eventually decided to bring Clint and Banner in on Thor's realization. They agreed not to tell the others for morale purposes, but everything was spiraling out of control.

Hulk and Thor were the only duo strong enough to pin down someone infected by the Shadow. If they were truly under siege now from multiples they were as good as dead, unless they could figure out how Hydra contained the Alpha-Shadow from 'Project: Helius' for two decades.

Bucky was compiling research on monsters from various mythologies, just in case the 'Project: Helius' he saw in his nightmare was accurate- maybe instead of creating something they merely released it. His best guess was a hell-hound, but that didn't explain any of its other abilities- the venom or the intelligence- only appearance... OK, so not even appearance, just the vaguely canine side of it. Hey, he was the first person willing to admit he was grasping at straws, _hard_.

He rubbed his tired eyes and slammed yet another bestiary. Bucky pulled some Advil from a pocket and dry-swallowed the pills. The constant light was killing him, and all the arguing didn't help either. Tensions were high enough- yet the Avengers had spent no less than four hours the night before debating over moving Inessa to a safe house or- Thor's stance- safe _Realm_. The idea had its merits, true, but if the Shadow's marks acted as a beacon it might just make her an easier target or subject others to the attacks. In the end, they agreed to keep her in the Tower. For now.

Bucky grabbed his tablet and reluctantly went up to bed. He'd slept in the library too often, he needed real sleep- even though closing himself in his room was a recipe for disaster. As tensions rose, as he got less and less sleep, the nightmares were increasing in severity. Inessa was a mission he could latch onto, but if he let himself take a break the memories of the Winter Soldier were there- ready to pounce. If he _didn't_ step away though he was going to go bat-shit crazy, so Bucky was forced to choose the lesser of the two evils.

It felt like he'd been at the Tower forever, and only a single day at the same time. Bucky unlocked the door and freely grabbed a banana from the kitchen. He didn't worry anymore about what he was permitted to eat. Only if he'd be possessed by a psychotic Shadow-monster while he chewed. Natasha shared her little line about 'Wiping out the red in the ledger'. Maybe once this was done he could become an Avenger and start on his own list. Kill some bad guys for a change, _help_ people. She seemed to think if she saved enough it would erase her past, he wanted the chance to do the same.

After he'd finished his late-night (well, judging by the rising sun early-morning) snack and washed up, Bucky turned on a familiar old picture, "His Girl Friday". He'd seen it with his mother- an avid Cary Grant fan- not long before he went off to war. It reminded him of that sunny Sunday afternoon. Better times.

Bucky closed his eyes and buried his face in the pillow to block out the light. As he drifted off to sleep he half-listened to the movie. Cary Grant- always some uptight goof spazzing over a pretty dame with a too-high voice. He was talking to the leading lady now- insisting she help him cover a news story (a pretense so he could break up her and her fiancee ).

"No, please," her voice was different than he thought it should be, "please, don't!" he didn't remember this part. "No-" a _crack_, then deafening, horrific screams. Bucky jumped up and spun around wildly, his heart pounding.

The movie wasn't there, but something was playing. Bucky covered his ears and looked for the remote as the person on the screen kept screaming. _Crack_. He found it, tried to at least mute the TV-anything. His fumbling hand hit the power button. The TV clicked off.

Bucky slid down the headboard, shaking. Another click- the TV turned back on. The girl's screams filled the room again. Bucky couldn't look at the black-and-white picture on the screen. He knew the room on the tape. The girl begging, screaming. Hell, he was the one breaking her toes.

_Crack_.

Tears filled Bucky's vision. He was paralyzed a moment longer, then he slowly got up and crossed to the television. He reached behind it and pulled out every plug he could find. The room went silent for a moment.

_Crack._

It pumped through the speakers built into the walls. Bucky ran from the room. The audio followed him. Cracking and screaming, over and over again. As he passed, a TV in the living room clicked on. It continued to show the torture session.

Bucky shot out into the hall and nearly collided with Tony, "Slow down, speed racer," Tony grabbed Bucky's arm and spun him around, "What's up?"

"The TV," Bucky panted, pointing in the apartment, "the sound..."

"OK, wait here," Tony went in and gave the place a once-over. Bucky's TV was completely unplugged, but he didn't see or hear anything out of the ordinary. Tony plugged it back in and checked the play history- just a bunch of old movies. He went back out to Bucky, now slumped on the floor, "I didn't see anything out of line. Want to tell me what happened?"

"It started playing on its own," Bucky was still shaking, "security footage. From- from when I- when I-" he couldn't say it, "N-Nessa-".

"From when you tortured Inessa?"

Bucky nodded.

Tony sighed, "JARVIS, you got anything?"

"No, sir," the AI's voice filled the hall, "My records only show Mr. Barns viewing the 1940s film 'His Girl Friday' from the media library."

Tony glanced back at Bucky, "What were you doing when the screaming started?" he switched to his extra-gentle voice.

"I was trying to sleep," Bucky shuddered.

"No judgement, scout's honor, but do you think maybe you just had a really vivid dream again?"

Bucky immediately shook his head, "No I- no. I heard it. I saw it. It was there."

"All of us are running on fumes. Keeping the lights up- it plays tricks on your brain. Slows it down. When you can't process you sometimes start hearing the overflow. It wasn't real, Bucky. It was just a bad dream, punctuated by an overly tired mind."

"No, it was real."

"OK," Tony lied, helping him up, "I believe you. It's OK. Do you need somewhere else to sleep? We can set you up on the guest floor near Sam or in any of the other apartments."

Tony could be nice, sometimes. "No," Bucky wiped his sweaty palm on his shirt, "I- I'll just go back to the library. It's fine. You- you go to sleep."

"Bucky-"

"Good night." he looked dazed, and he sounded distant. He walked away from Tony, holding the railing for support.

"JARVIS, keep an eye on him," Tony watched him go, "do a full scan on the house systems, look for anything out of the ordinary."

"Yes, Master Stark."

Bucky closed himself in the library and found a corner to hide in from any curious eyes Tony may send to check on him. He didn't want to be the sideshow freak again.

He couldn't stop thinking about that sound. Those screams. He remembered every last thing he did to Inessa, but seeing it again- hearing it, it was too difficult. The difference between him then and now was he had a soul.

It was almost noon before his mind quieted enough for him to move to an armchair and sink into it. He was beyond exhausted and his entire body ached for sleep. Bucky closed his eyes. There was a soft click over his comm, a channel opened, "What do you want?" he moaned.

_Crack._


	30. Chapter 30

**Avengers Tower**

It wasn't always the same video. Whoever was doing this to Bucky switched it constantly. Whenever he was alone some new scene would play- and whenever he wasn't it would come over his comm. He was getting the highlights of two of the most brutal years of his life-

-and Dennisson was loving every frame of it. On the second day, before Bucky began avoiding anything with a screen, he spliced in a few of his favorite clips- the things he let the guards do to Echo while the Winter Soldier was away on missions. It was unfortunate, he'd only shared three when Bucky smashed the computer and refused to be alone. Still, the audio haunted him for _hours_.

While Banner sat with him, the rest of the Avengers gathered in conference. "Is he having a psychotic break?" Tony directed his question at Sam, the closest thing they had to a psychologist.

"Maybe," he chose his words carefully, "or it could just be exhaustion. We saw this when he first got in, it's just more prolonged. He's hallucinating, seeing and hearing things that aren't there. It could be a simple matter of sedating him for a few days. A full-blown break though... It's a big call to make, and too early to make it. Plus," he reminded them, "I'm not qualified to give anything resembling a professional opinion."

"He's going to give himself an aneurysm," Clint shook his head.

"You're sure it's in his head?" Steve asked Tony for the hundredth time.

"JARVIS has done every scan he's got. No outside signals getting in or vice versa, and I swapped out the embedded comm days ago. There are signal jammers on every floor, if he's getting audio or video input I'm at a loss to explain where it's coming from."

"Clint? Anything?" Steve was hoping for some kind of answer other than 'crazy'.

"I've gone through every setting," Clint reached into one ear and pulled out a tiny black hearing aid. It was like popping his ears in reverse, he felt suddenly lopsided, "I can hear the electricity in the damned walls but, no, I'm not picking up any sound like what he's describing."

Steve shook his head, "What about Maria Hill? Did SHIELD have anything that JARVIS couldn't detect? Maybe it's Hydra."

"No one has been in this Tower but us, even if there was tech, how do you think it would have gotten in here?"

Natasha frowned, "That's not entirely true, right?"

Tony turned to her, "What do you mean?"

"The repair crews," she gestured to the lights, "Didn't they install new gear in the ceiling?"

"Are you suggesting they're Hydra?"

"No," she shook her head, "not all of them. I _vetted_ them, remember? But- I don't know, was there anyone new on the crew? Not one of the regular guys?"

"Just Bill's wife's cousin's nephew's- hell, I don't know. Some relative. Scrawny guy."

Natasha shrugged, "It's worth consideration," she spoke up for JARVIS, "can you give us a family tree for this 'Bill' guy?"

A projector lowered from the ceiling and several photographs filled the screen, "All living relatives of William Kurschner III."

Tony studied the faces and frowned, "Call up security footage of shorty."

A few seconds later the man's face appeared. He wasn't in any of Bill's family photos. "JARVIS-"

"Checking Interpol and SHIELD data bases," JARVIS got to work immediately.

Steve tapped his comm, "Banner, bring in Bucky please. We might have something."

Dennisson pouted as he flipped between the feed of Bucky and the feed of the Avengers. They'd started deciphering his little trick too quickly. He was hoping to strip the man of his sanity first, and by the looks of it the Winter Soldier still had a bit of mind to spare.

Bucky flinched as he came into the room and looked away from the screen. He had a bad tremor in his right hand.

"We need you to look at the screen, Bucky," Sam came over and put a hand on his metal shoulder. Bucky was blinking rapidly and black bags sagged under his eyes, "Someone might be doing this to you, we need to know if you recognize this person."

"S-so you don't think I'm crazy anymore?" he'd been alienated from the Avengers since all this began. They treated him like some fragile kook, not taking his fears seriously. He didn't blame them, he was pretty sure now he was losing his mind too. He lifted his head though and forced himself to look at the man's face on the screen. He was about to say he didn't recognize him, then he frowned and cocked his head at an angle, "Can you add a beard? A short one?"

JARVIS added to the image and Bucky studied it for a long time. Pieces were taking a while to click into place, but he got it eventually, "I think so? I can't be sure, it was a very long time ago, before 'Project: Echo' even."

Tony looked from the man's face to Bucky, "Who is he?"

"Hydra," the more Bucky looked at the face, the more sure he was. He flinched as fresh screams filled his head. A particularly vulgar assault on Inessa by a guard. Bucky took little satisfaction in the familiarity of the guard's voice- it held a very distinctive growl. He remembered disemboweling the man upon his return from a mission for _precisely_ what he was doing on the audio track.

Another image of the man appeared next to the security footage, "File found," JARVIS chimed in, "Gregory Tyson, Hydra special asset. Confined to Hydra Asylum Wonju after convincing his supervising agent to kill his children, reportedly over a disagreement on the number of acceptable casualties on a mission. He was diagnosed a sociopath with a narcissistic personality disorder."

"Dennisson," Bucky breathed, "it has to be Dennisson."

"The guy in charge of 'Project: Echo'?" Bucky nodded to Clint, "Oh, great. That's really great."

Tony cursed, "Have the remote suits rip up the ceiling- anywhere the crews worked. Find any unregistered tech and dismantle it."

"Of course, sir," the suits deployed.

Dennisson waved Morris over, "Turn on the second device. I want to speak to him directly."

"Yes, sir," the first device hacked sound and audio feeds. The second allowed a much more direct form of communication. The third- Morris hoped the third would not be exposed. It was his favorite.

The screaming cut out suddenly and Bucky rubbed his ear. He heard breathing. "Ssh," he silenced the others and frowned, listening.

"Hello, Winter Soldier. Have you been enjoying my playlist? I filled it with music I thought you'd like."

"What do you want, Dennisson?"

There was a long pause, "I'm sorry," Dennisson chuckled, "did you say something? Unfortunately I can't hear you- but do you remember? I like to be heard, and I don't care much for backtalk. I just wanted to let you know you're going to come straight to me soon. You'll beg me to kill you, and that's a promise."

Bucky waved to Tony, "Where's the security camera in here?" Tony pointed to the smoke detector. Bucky flipped it off.

Dennisson smiled to himself, "I hope you and your new friends enjoy this as much as I will."

Dennisson deactivated the microphone. Morris was anxious, would the man make the right call? "What next? Activate the third device?"

"Not just yet, let them stew for a while," he chuckled, "then we introduce the Avengers to the full might of 'Project: Helius'."


	31. Chapter 31

**Avengers Tower**

The suits found Dennisson's device planted behind a light. It was relatively new technology, and incredibly advanced, even for Hydra. As the suits dismantled it, JARVIS ran scans of each component, then began upgrading his systems to detect similar devices. His efforts (if a computer can be said to make them) paid off- they found the second device.

It didn't help Bucky though. He still heard Inessa's screams. The only difference was now they really _were_ all in his head. He couldn't put them behind him. He took up the tablet once again and watched her as Natasha continued to administer the medication. Nothing had changed in the girl. The samples they were sending back to Simmons indicated she should be getting better, but her movements were just as automated, just as soulless.

Dennisson's cameras had gone undetected still, and he watched with great satisfaction. He was winning. Device 3 was a gamble- but one he was willing to make. It had to be used at just the right moment to send the Winter Soldier over the edge, lure him in. For someone with appetites as brutal as Dennisson's could get, he was certainly good at playing patient when he needed to. There were also the Avengers to consider. While the longer he left the Soldier squirming the more devastating his next move would be, the more time the Avengers had the stronger they would become.

The "sweet spot" was just a few days out. Bucky had a couple nights of fitful sleep keeping his legs under him, and the Avengers were just beginning to form a battle plan to flush out Dennisson.

He waited until just after the sun set, before the moon rose- the darkest time of the night. Then he and Morris went outside to a small balcony from which they could just see Avengers Tower peeking out over the city. Dennisson smiled and nodded to Morris. His assistant activated Device 3.

Avengers Tower went dark.

* * *

"Ooh, me gusta," Clint smiled as Natasha stepped into the shower with him, "want to burn off some stress?" he was always game for some fun. Natasha smiled deviously and slid in for a kiss. Just before their lips touched she reached out and turned the water all the way to cold, "EVIL! EVIL!" Clint was suddenly screaming soprano. He spun Natasha around so she'd deflect the icy water from him. She turned the dial back to hot.

"Now it's my shower," she winked.

"Devil-woman," he tried to glare as she kissed him, then turned around to let the water warm her skin. Clint started playing with her hair- braiding it back from her face to expose the back of her neck.

She smiled as he kissed just behind her ear and traced along her shoulders with his nails, "Forgive me already?"

He responded by pinching her side just below the ribcage- the only spot Natasha was ticklish. She squeaked and elbowed him lightly, "I'll count that as revenge." he went back to kissing her neck and wrapped his arms around her, holding her naked body against his.

Then the lights went out.

Both were so surprised, they froze in the complete darkness. Then, suddenly, Clint went flying across the room, dragging Natasha with him. He hit the mirror and shattered it. Natasha ended up on the floor, scrambling for a weapon and cutting herself on the broken glass. She grabbed a hand towel and wrapped it around what felt like a long shard.

Something growled in the darkness. Natasha closed her eyes and listened for breathing, shifting of weight, anything. She felt it's breath on her cheek and slashed out. The creature roared and struck at her ankles. Natasha felt the blow connect, but it was like it passed right through her, leaving her cold but unharmed. It was still weak then. She tried to step forward and lash out again, but she slipped and fell to her knees. The creature lunged and Natasha was thrown into- then through- the bathroom door and out into the living room. The city lights filtering in through the windows helped. Natasha could see a dense patch of shadow follow her out. She shivered as a breeze hit her- the balcony window was shattered. Natasha tried to stand and fell again, dizzy. The creature was almost upon her when Natasha realized why she was so cold. Why the room seemed to be spinning.

The Shadow hadn't missed her in the bathroom. It's strike had landed. Natasha had just gone into shock.

Her leg was severed at the shin.

* * *

Steve stared at Bucky, trying desperately to read his mind. He was holding something back. They'd known each other almost their entire lives, and he couldn't fool Steve for a second. They watched one another- two soldiers calculating their next move carefully.

Tony was bored silly, "For the love of God Rogers, either call, raise, or fold." They'd been staring one another down for three minutes!

Bucky's face was a mask. Steve sighed and gave up, "Fold."

"Me too," Tony threw his hand down- two fives. Whatever Bucky was sitting on had to be- "FUCKING TWOS? TWO FUCKING TWOS. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" he roared. Bucky smiled and swept up his take.

"Now I'm tired, crazy, _and_ have a ton of your money."

"You've got fifty bucks of my money," Tony pointed out, "I make about a million times that in _interest_ each day."

"Well in that case, deal again."

Tony nodded, "I'll kick your ass this time, may the Shadow-demony-thingie take me if I don't!"

The lights went out.

"OK," Tony was surprisingly calm in the sudden darkness, "before the panic starts, can we just appreciate the timing of that?" A second later the Iron Man suit blasted through the doors and covered Tony, "JARVIS, where's the outage?"

"A massive power surge was detected in Mr. Wilson's room. I believe it is what is causing the current blackout."

"Do you need help?" Steve asked quickly. Bucky was already running for the door, guided by what little light was coming through the windows.

"No!" Tony waved him off, "Go!" Steve ran after Bucky and Tony made for the balcony, "JARVIS, shut down the arc reactor, kill the Tower, then re-start everything!"

"Yes, sir."

Tony ran out onto the balcony. Before he could take off he was grabbed by something in the darkness, thrown into the marble floor, and with a roar something punched through his suit and four long talons were embedded into the pavement beneath him. Tony choked- tried to gasp- but the suit began to short out, and unfortunately it was airtight. The last thing he saw was of a massive black wolf-like creature standing over him, roaring.

* * *

"It's definitely a good idea, just make sure it's what _you_ want to do," Banner was counseling Sam in the library, "Just because we treat you like a shrink doesn't mean you have to put up with that."

Sam shrugged, "I've run different PTSD groups over the years, it's certainly an _interest_, and we do need a psychologist."

"We can hire one of those ourselves, we have a good sized budget from SHIELD we never touch," Banner pointed out.

"Yeah, but I think it will make me feel more useful. I want to prove I can be a valuable member of this team. If that means going back to college and getting another degree..."

Banner laughed, "If that's what you're worried about, you can stop right now. You've more than earned your spot on this team. You helped Steve bring in Bucky, you helped us get out of that Hydra Asylum in Korea, and you've done an impressive job keeping everyone around here from killing each other."

"Without the wings though I'm useless," Sam pointed out.

"Without the suit so is Tony, except as a financier." Sam laughed, he did have a point.

Banner stiffened up all of the sudden and looked around like he was hearing something. "What?" Sam listened, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

"It's Hulk," Banner explained, his eyes turning green, "something's coming."

Sam held his breath and waited, tense. There was nothing for several seconds.

And then the lights went out.

"Get to Inessa!" Banner's voice was already gravely, he was mid-transformation. Sam blindly ran for the door, cursing at the darkness of the tower. He heard pounding feet behind him on the stairs- probably Steve or Bucky.

"Natasha, get Inessa to the balcony! Natasha? Do you read me!" the comms were silent. Sam ran up the stairs hunched over- marking them with the tips of his fingers. When he reached the landing he yanked open his door and took a hard right towards the back of the guest quarters. His new platform was spitting out sparks, illuminating the room. Sam's wings were in a glass case that was _supposed_ to open automatically when he was within a few feet of the sensor. It was out. He grabbed a blanket from his bed, wrapped it around his fist, and pounded on the glass until it shattered.

Armed with his wings, Sam backed away from the door- it would be useless. He ran to the next room down and, repeating his move with the blanket, broke through the glass in time to see something tumble past, plummeting towards the pavement below. Sam hesitated- if it was the monster he could be in major danger, but if it was one of the others-

Cursing, Sam jumped out the window, unfurled his wings, and dove after whatever the hell was headed straight for the streets of New York City.

* * *

Steve followed Bucky up the stairs. At one point he thought he heard someone ahead of them- Sam probably. Hulk roared from just outside the library and ran for the balcony- let the puny humans use the stairs. Hulk climb Tower.

"Thor, where are you?" he shouted into his comm. No reply. As they passed his floor, Steve heard a monumental crash from inside. He and Bucky skid to a stop. Bucky was ahead of him on the steps, and thanks to his connection to the Shadow, had much stronger night-vision. There was no question what the best call was, "Go protect Inessa! I'll help Thor!"

Bucky nodded and ran ahead up the stairs. Steve kicked in Thor's door and looked around. Everything was in disarray, and long claw marks marred the walls- many dripping silver venom. There was another roar from the back of the apartment and Steve headed straight for it.

Thor was silhouetted by the New York skyline, wrestling some kind of wolf- one just about as big as he was. It gnashed it's teeth at his throat and Steve suddenly wished he'd carried his shield with him to that poker game- he could certainly use it now. He threw himself headfirst at the shadow and actually managed to knock it off Thor. So, in the darkness, in their turf, they could at least be annoyed.

Something went flying past the window. Steve heard breaking glass. Thor smashed the beast with Mjolnir, but it just roared, angrier. It slammed into Thor and pinned him against the wall.

* * *

Bucky ran into Natasha's apartment and froze. Inessa was sitting in the living room, where Natasha usually had her. She stared ahead as always, unresponsive to anything going on around her. There was a flash of silver and Bucky turned. The Shadow was heading for her, eyes burning. It made his skin crawl. The creature slinked on all fours, but the limbs were disjointed, it's motions were jerky. That horrible smile- Bucky couldn't suppress a shiver.

His hesitation could have cost them everything. The Shadow reached out, Inessa screamed, and Bucky charged.

He aimed not for the Shadow- he knew already he couldn't defeat it- but instead for Inessa. As he got closer he reached out with his metal arm- grabbed her- pinned her against his chest- and kept going straight through the window and out into the night. He just prayed Sam was watching. The Shadow roared and dove out behind him, but Bucky just focused on keeping Inessa tight against him. He closed his eyes against the wind and, a few seconds later, he was breathless as his trajectory suddenly changed.

Sam angled low towards the well-lit city streets. Something slammed into him from behind and let out a deafening roar. The Shadow clung to Sam, tried to force it's way into his mind. It reached out to claw at the others. A talon nicked Bucky's arm. Sam let go of Bucky and Inessa before it got control- hopefully they'd have time to roll so Inessa didn't hit the pavement. She wasn't a super-soldier.

He felt an incredible pressure behind his eyes as the Shadow shoved him down. He had a fleeting thought- would it pop his eyes out? That had always been a fear of his. The thought was irrational, childish, but it gave him something to grasp as he lost control of his muscles. He saw the Tower light up suddenly and bit his tongue as hard as he could. The pain bought him seconds, but it was long enough to angle sharply upwards and adjust the wings for maximum speed. He crashed through a window somewhere among the middle of the Avengers floors, was bathed in the light, and then everything went black.

Bucky protected Inessa as best he could when they hit the pavement, but she was still banged up. He scooped her up in his arms and ran for the Tower, now two blocks away. He saw Sam crash into a window. People on the street were staring at the strange man with the metal arm as he ran full-out for the Tower. Panic would set in soon- if someone was flying through windows in the Tower and a bloody man ran through the streets that probably meant something was wrong- and New York couldn't handle anything as dramatic as the last time the Avengers were all swarming around that Tower.

The back entrance was Bucky's best bet to access the Tower- it was next to the Avengers private garage. He punched his code into the keypad as quickly as he could and waited impatiently for the elevator to come down. The ride up was unbearable. Bucky's head throbbed. He pulled up the sleeve of his t-shirt and saw where the Shadow had nicked him, a faint trace of silver dripped among the blood. Bucky covered his arm quickly. He couldn't look at Inessa, but he spoke to her, more to assuage his own fears. "It's OK, we're protecting you from the monsters. I'm not going to hurt you, I swear to every god in heaven or hell."

When the elevator doors opened it was to chaos. JARVIS' house unit was offline still and they had a wrecked, bloody suit of Tony's armor with no one inside. Hulk had Clint thrown on a table, cut all to hell and buck-ass nude. Natasha was on the coffee table, covered for modesty sake by a sheet. One leg was significantly longer than the other and there was a suspicious, bloody gap in the sheet. She was too pale.

Hulk roared and Thor spun around. He saw Natasha and ran over, lifting the sheet just far enough to see the source of the blood. "HEIMDAL, OPEN THE BIFROST, NOW!" he grabbed the severed limb and scooped Natasha up. Light began to dance around him, "FIND TONY STARK, I WILL GET HER TO ASGARDIAN HEALERS!" he shouted and was gone.

Bucky quickly set Inessa in a chair and ran up the stairs. He searched every room on the western side of every floor until he found Sam in Tony's apartment. His eyes were black and he was bleeding from several cuts in his ribcage. The most distressing part was the blood trickling from his mouth. Bucky pried it open and saw that he'd bitten halfway through his tongue. He picked up Sam, shoved back a sudden wave of nausea, and ran him downstairs. A white med suit met him on the landing and folded Sam inside to monitor his vitals.

One of the armored suits was standing in the middle of the room with it's face-plate open (always a freaky sight) and the audio turned up as high as it would go, "My systems are still rebooting," JARVIS explained to Steve, "As soon as they are operational I will be able to answer your question."

"All I want to know is if one of the Suits has Tony!" he was fuming.

"My ability to communicate between the Suits is limited. All are operating at maximum capacity, but beyond that the home interface must be active to unify control of the Suits."

"So what does that mean?"

"In two minutes I will be of further assistance to you, but in current conditions you will have to speak with each Suit individually."

Bucky jumped in and cut off Steve before he could reply, "Where is Simmons' anti-venom kept? Is there any down here?"

The Suit held out an arm and the metal slid back, revealing several syringes, "Master Stark equipped all Suits with emergency doses."

"Thank you," Bucky grabbed two of the needles and turned quickly away. He flipped the cap off one and shot the anti-venom into his leg. He'd refused it before, but he was seeing double as the adrenaline wore off and he couldn't pass out, not now. He injected Clint next. Bucky rolled Barton onto his side and inspected his cuts. There were five punctures in one shoulder- Clint had been thrown by a Shadow. Each hole oozed silver. Bucky inspected the coffee table where Natasha had been lying. Silver mixed with the blood.

"Mister Rogers," JARVIS' voice chimed over the house speakers this time, "Master Stark has been located in the operating room. He is undergoing automated surgery to repair significant damage to his abdomen and lower chest. Chance of survival is at 97%. Sam Wilson will be treated shortly after for severe lacerations on his tongue. His other wounds are being stitched inside the medical unit."

Steve rubbed his forehead, "Thank you JARVIS."

Bucky wandered out to the balcony, over to where Tony had been stabbed. He hadn't made it far. Bucky could hear Banner changing back off in some corner of the balcony. Steve checked on Inessa, left her with a medical Suit bandaging her wounds, and came out to Bucky. "You need to see a Suit as soon as one is free."

"We're in trouble."

"You think?" Steve snapped, then sighed, "I'm sorry. It's hell in there."

Bucky nodded, "Steve, Dennisson did this. I don't know how, but he did."

Steve nodded, "He knew exactly how to hit us. He probably knows the truth about 'Project: Helius' and their monster too."

"He knows a lot more than we do, I'm betting."

"He won't share the information."

"He might if I-"

"We're not trading you for a bunch of paper that probably won't tell us anything useful," Steve snapped again.

Bucky grabbed him as he turned away, "Look," he didn't let go until Steve looked at the pool of blood where Tony had been attacked. Then, he pulled up his sleeve to show Steve the wound- only a couple inches long but wreathed in silver. "Look at who the Shadow attacked this time. What does that tell you?"

"Tony was getting the lights back on. Clint and Natasha were guarding Inessa. What was-"

"Sam was getting Inessa and I out of the Tower."

"So it was taking out anyone who was trying to protect her," Steve shrugged, defeated, "We already knew it was gunning for her, what do you want me to-"

"Tony. Clint. Natasha. Sam. Me," he emphasized each person, "What do we have in common."

Steve got it then. He stared at the pool of blood tinged with drops of silver poison. "None of you were marked," he subconsciously backed towards the windows, towards the light.

Bucky nodded, "If we're right in thinking the marks act like some kind of beacon for that thing, then Dennisson just helped it double the power."


	32. Chapter 32

**Asgard **

As soon as Thor's feet touched Asgardian marble he was running across the Bifrost towards the shining city with Natasha in his arms. He put her leg across her lab and clamped a hand over the end of the stump, keeping pressure. She'd lost so much blood.

Rarely did Thor think of the Bifrost as being preposterously long (when you live to be 5,000 or so you learn patience), but he would have preferred on this occasion if the portal had let him off next to the healing rooms. Asgardian medicine could help Natasha, but only if he could get her there in time. The people scrambled to get out of their Prince's way, and all gaped at the naked, red-haired woman he carried.

"Thor? What-" he pushed past his father on the steps of the palace and continued on.

"Hold on Natasha Romanov," he was praying more than speaking to her, "we are almost to our destination."

Guards opened doors before him until, at last, Thor reached the healing rooms. "Physicians!" he shouted, as if the Prince barging into the healing rooms wasn't sign enough that someone was hurt. They swarmed him immediately- three of Asgard's best. He relinquished his cargo to their care. The doctors removed the sheet to inspect her wounds and Thor turned away. One doctor examined the severed leg.

"Prince, what manner of beast has attacked this mortal? The wounds are silver!"

"I know not. Do not worry about that, focus only on saving her life. I will send for an antidote. Can you heal her?"

The lead doctor walked around Thor to speak to him face-to-face, "Reattaching the limb will not be difficult, but she has lost too much blood. She may be beyond even our abilities."

"Do your best."

"THOR ODINSON, EXPLAIN YOURSELF!" his father roared from the halls. He was coming after Thor with guards. The Prince nodded to the doctor, patted Natasha on the head (mindful of her nudity he dared not look at her) and walked quickly from the room. The doctors closed the doors behind him and Thor blocked them.

Odin's face was red and his armor was smeared with Natasha's blood, "We were attacked. My ally was wounded and I did not believe there was time for Midgardian healers to assist her."

"So you bring her to Asgard? Despite my _express _orders to the contrary?!" Odin leaned in, "I told you after you brought that Jane Foster woman- no more. Our healers are for OUR PEOPLE, not Midgard's!"

"She is not merely some Midgardian. She is a member of my team."

"Oh, really?" Odin leaned back, "Am I mistaken then? Was that Lady Sif you brought to my healing halls? Or has one of the Warrior's Three changed genders?"

Odin had been decreasingly supportive of Thor's involvement with the Avengers. Indeed, the Prince got the impression his father hated them, ardently. "She is an Avenger. The Black Widow- a warrior of such skill I believe only the Lady Sif may be her equal."

"The Black Widow? The assassin?!" Odin was enraged. He must have been watching Midgard more carefully than Thor knew- he never told his father what precisely the Black Widow was known for. "I want her out of here, IMMEDIATELY!"

The Guards stepped forward and Thor leaned against the door. He flexed his hand- then realized he'd left Mjolnir in Avengers Tower in his haste. Thor cursed silently. He was still one of the best warriors in Asgard- hammer or no. It just would have been greatly appreciated. He could always summon the thing, but it may take too long to make the journey.

"Are you not Odin, King of Asgard that you would rip an ally from the physicians who might save her and sentence her to death?" he shouted at his father. The challenge was made. Odin could bow to his son's demands, lose face in front of his own guard, or throw the woman out and be labeled as cruel.

Odin sneered at his son, "What are her injuries?" his voice was low, dangerous.

"A severed leg. She has lost a lot of blood already."

He considered his position carefully, tried to find the balance. "I do not care how critical her condition. Tell the physicians they are only to reattach the limb- then you take her from here, back to her realm. If she survives or not will be determined by the Fates, not by my healers. You have until nightfall to leave. And this time you will stay in Midgard. I do not want to see you back here until you are prepared to relinquish your ties to these _Avengers_ once and for all. Is that understood?"

Thor nodded carefully, "Understood, father."

Odin had changed so much since his mother and Loki had been killed. Thor wasn't entirely sure he even _was_ his father anymore.

* * *

**Avengers Tower: Recovery Room **

Bucky wandered down the row of beds, checking on his friends. Clint and Tony were still unconscious, and Sam was being kept sedated for now. Steve and Banner were trying to clean up the damage as best they could. Even Inessa was being kept in the recovery room now- the cat was out of the bag, if she had enough presence of mind to care that Bucky was there.

The more he thought about it the more sure he became- Dennisson knew something about the Shadow. _You're going to come straight to me soon_. The problem was that Bucky couldn't think of a way around the trap. _He_ arranged for the device that allowed the Shadow and it's minions to attack. He had to have the true 'Project: Helius' file. He had to know what kind of corner he'd backed Bucky into.

He was probably still watching...

Before Bucky realized what he was doing he found himself in the meeting room. The cards from their game were still thrown about, chips and dollar bills covered the table. At the back of the room was a printer. Bucky grabbed a sheet and wrote something out on it, then held it up for the security camera. He waited a full minute before shredding the paper and walking out.

* * *

**Natasha and Clint's Apartment **

Steve swept the glass in the bathroom while Banner cleaned up the mess from Hulk's grand entrance- too late as it turned out. He'd seen Natasha on the floor with a shadow over her, but the lights clicked on before he could do anything- the creature was gone, and she was covered in blood. He followed the trail to the bathroom.

It was Hulk who brought both Clint and Natasha inside and set them down in the lobby. He hung his head. No word from Thor yet, and it was almost night again. He and Steve hadn't said two words to each other all day, the whole Tower was silent as a tomb. Everyone just waiting for news... Or waiting to die. JARVIS' suits disconnected the third device, but who knew how many more Dennisson had stashed around? At any point he could damn them with a flip of the switch.

The doorbell chimed throughout the Tower intercom. Steve and Banner paused and waited. There was a second chime, softer- Bucky had gotten the door. A few seconds later the sound repeated, whoever their visitor was, they didn't stay.

"Everything good?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, it was nothing," Bucky sounded... strange. And he spoke over comms- not through the house PA. Steve dismissed it and went back to work. Banner had a bad feeling, but he kept it to himself.

An hour later Bucky chimed in, once again from comms, "You two should get down here." His voice was flat, emotionless, "There's something you need to see."

Ice coiled in Banner and Steve's stomach. Surely Thor wouldn't have used the door, right? Bucky sounded as if someone had died. They headed out together and walked down to the lobby as if in a dream- maybe a nightmare.

Steve expected Bucky to be standing in the lobby or by the recovery room door, but he was nowhere to be seen. "Bucky?" he called out.

"Steve," Banner stopped and pointed to the small end table Tony kept by the door. There was a stack of papers on it, two thick files.

"No," Steve whispered. He ran over and picked up the files. When he turned back to Banner he saw into the meeting room- Bucky's metal arm sat on the table. He shuddered, then looked down at the files.

'PROJECT: HELIUS- COMPLETE'  
'PROJECT: ECHO- COMPLETE'

Bucky traded himself back to Hydra.


	33. 10,000 Views!

Now, I know some of you get grumpy when I post something that isn't a new chapter, and rest assured I'm in the middle of typing up Chapter 37 (you'll get that tonight for sure, and probably Chapter 38 too), but I just wanted to say-

**Project Echo has hit 10,000 views!**

That's is INCREDIBLE! Especially considering I posted it here so my former college roommate could access the chapters in an easier format than just tumblr posts! Never did I expect to see more than like 30 views on it, let alone views IN THE THOUSANDS! I'm SO THRILLED by how well it is doing and the reception it has gotten here! I get excited every time I hear my phone _ping_ with a new review to read!

We're swinging into Act 3 now, the finale is on the near horizon, and I hope everyone enjoys the rest of "Project Echo"!

All I can say is: **10 Chapters Left!**


	34. Chapter 33

**Avengers Tower **

Bucky spent fifteen minutes trying to find the release switches for his arm. If he was going to hand himself over to Dennisson, he certainly wouldn't include Tony's tech in the deal. Besides, if his theory was right then Dennisson intended to kill him anyways- he wasn't so sure that was a bad thing. It seemed like every day the memories of the Winter Soldier's crimes got a little bit harder to carry around. He was beginning to think he'd never be Bucky Barnes again- the lure of the Winter Soldier was too strong.

He set the arm on the table in the break room. If Steve or Banner came downstairs for anything and saw it straight away they'd know something was up, and Bucky couldn't have that. The deal was for a straight trade. With the arm gone the connecting wires retracted automatically into the base plate.

Within half an hour of sending his message the doorbell rang. Bucky opened it calmly. A relatively small man stood before him in a dark suit. He had the look of a sycophant, but there was something else in his eyes Bucky couldn't place- a malice he didn't trust. "Mr. Barnes? My name is Sebastian Morris, I am Thomas Dennisson's executive assistant," he held out his hand but Bucky didn't shake it. Morris only waited a couple seconds before lowering his hand and rummaging through a leather satchel. He produced two thick files, which he handed over easily, "Projects 'Helius' and 'Echo', Hydra's complete files, as requested. You are in luck, we only tracked down the final 'Project: Helius' report a few weeks ago. That may be the very last in existence."

Bucky ignored him and set the files down on the doorside table. He flipped through them quickly- they seemed legit.

"The security footage and other digital records will be delivered once you are in our custody. Shall we?" Morris had everything he might need to bring the Winter Soldier in by force, but he preferred to be civilized about the whole thing. Besides, he could see that the decision had been made. No violence would be necessary.

Bucky brushed past Morris and walked out to the visitor's elevator. The other followed, closing the door behind him.

"Everything good?" Steve came over the comms.

"Yeah," Bucky eyed Morris as they entered the elevator, "it was nothing."

Dennisson had instructed Morris to rent a car for the occasion. As they drove out of the city towards less savory communities, Bucky's mind filled with unconsidered fears. They found one device, but what if Dennisson cut power again before they figured out how to stop the Shadow? What if something happened to Inessa in the recovery room while he was gone? What if Dennisson had another programming machine and really intended to reset the Winter Soldier?

Rush hour in New York being what it was, it took over an hour for Morris to get to the warehouse. They got out of the car and the assistant came up to Bucky with a small metal disk in his palm, "I'm afraid you will need to attach this to your temple," he explained, "it prevents any embedded communications devices from broadcasting. We do not have your friend's technology to remove one easily and it's simpler than cutting through your jaw to deactivate it."

Bucky took the metal and hesitated. If they knew he was gone they'd have tried comms by now. Someone should be watching Inessa. He tapped twice to broadcast, "You two should come down here. There's something you need to see," he turned off his comm and pushed the disk into the side of his head. It activated and the device grew tendrils that bore into his skull, anchoring it. Bucky gritted his teeth against the pain.

"Shall we then?" Morris crossed to the door and held it open for him, "Commander Dennisson is not a patient man."

"I remember."

* * *

**Avengers Tower **

"JARVIS, I've seen enough movies to know in this day and age there are cameras all over the city, don't tell me again you can't find where Bucky went!"

"Mister Rogers," Banner was impressed the AI could sound exasperated, "those are fictional programs, tracking Mister Barnes is not as easy as that!"

"SHIELD found Loki in Germany!"

"I should remind you, _sir_, that Loki did _intend_ to be found."

Steve punched the wall, "Woah, settle!" Tony was leaning heavily on the door to the recovery room. Banner opened his mouth to tell him to go lay back down but Tony held up a hand, "I'll sit on the couch, OK?"

"The one with the footrest," Banner pointed and Tony waved him off. He deliberately sat across from the indicated chair.

"Fill me in?"

Banner walked over and handed Tony the files, "Bucky traded himself back to Hydra in exchange for these. We can't raise him on the comms and JARVIS says he turned off his tracker- or it was turned off for him."

Tony considered the situation, "Good."

"What?" Steve rounded on him, "Say that again." his hand clenched in a fist.

"Easy tiger," Tony flipped through the first few pages of the 'Helius' file, "Dennisson told Bucky he'd '_beg for death_', remember? He'll keep him alive for a while at least. That gives us time to find him. And you don't just say 'follow him JARVIS!', you have to be more creative than that." Tony demonstrated, "JARVIS, I want records of every single person through the doors in this building for the last 24 hours. Cross-check that with incoming visa records and passport scans from all international airports in a thousand mile radius, especially incoming from New Zealand. Also, cross check against ship passenger manifestos. Finally, the icing on the cake, cross-reference any ships mentioned in any of the Hydra files we've got against arrivals at ports along the East coast." he winked at Steve, "You've got to think three-dimentionally lad. Oh! And JARVIS, any names on those Hydra ship manifestos, check them for building property holdings."

"Yes, sir."

Tony hummed to himself as he flipped through the folders. There was a chime at the door and Steve turned sharply. He practically ripped the thing off the hinges. No one was outside, but there was a small box on the carpet. "JARVIS, start with whoever just came up."

"I am detaining the messenger now, sir."

Steve eyed the box suspiciously. He was hesitant to pick it up. "No explosives or toxins detected," JARVIS was helpful. Steve picked it up (gingerly) and closed the door behind him. He peeled the tape off the top of the box and opened it.

"What did we get?" Banner came over to check the contents, "DVDs and flash drives. Everything says 'Echo'."

"I'm betting those aren't home movies we'll enjoy watching."

Steve couldn't understand how Tony was so calm. They didn't need to be watching DVDs or reading files, they needed to be _doing_ something- anything.

_"I SUGGEST YOU PREPARE YOUR MEDICAL EQUIPMENT QUICKLY."_ A deep voice boomed throughout the Tower.

Banner covered his ears and ducked, "What the hell?"

"God?" Tony looked up, only a little sarcastic.

"JARVIS, send in one of the med suits," Steve shrugged when the others turned to him, "Just in case."

A white suit entered the room the same time there was a rather impressive explosion of wind and light on the balcony. The windows shook and Tony relocated to a seat much further away- and very quickly.

Thor ran in with Natasha. He swung her around and held her up by the shoulders until the suit had folded her inside, "She needs blood," he ordered. The suit walked quickly to the medical rooms. Thor was panting.

"I thought Asgard was going to heal her?" Banner was concerned.

"My father would only consent to reattaching the severed limb. The healers believe there is still time for us to help her here." Thor looked from Steve to Tony to Banner. He saw Bucky's arm, sitting now on the coffee table, "Did I miss something? Where is James Barnes?"

"Who the hell knows!" Steve threw his arms up in the air.

"He bought us the files we need to figure this shadow-thing out. JARVIS is looking for him, we'll get him back."

Thor considered his words, "Heimdal!" he was shouting at the ceiling again, "Can you see where James Barnes is?"

"_YES, MY PRINCE, THOUGH ONLY THE BUILDING, SO LONG AS HE IS INSIDE I CANNOT BE CERTAIN OF ITS LOCATION_."

"Please inform me as soon as you can see where he is being kept."

"_OF COURSE, PRINCE THOR."_

Tony was staring at Thor with his mouth wide open, "You know _God_?"

* * *

**Dennisson's Base **

"Here, if you'd humor us," Morris led Bucky through a maze of hallways and down several flights of stares before stopping at a rusty green door. The Winter Soldier pushed it open. Inside was an autopsy table- a metal platform surrounded by a gutter that whipped fluids away from the body. It had chains fixed to a bar across the top. At least they didn't plan on reprogramming him.

Bucky's heart pounded. He took a deep breath and walked over to the table. He lifted himself onto it, then slipped his feet and wrist through the chains. Morris pulled them almost unbearably tight, then locked them from underneath with multiple padlocks. They weren't taking any chances with Bucky's strength.

"Commander Dennisson will be with your shortly," Morris promised, then left, locking the door behind him.

_This had better be worth it_.


	35. Chapter 34

**Anywhere but Avengers Tower **

Just kidding-

**Avengers Tower **

"Bucky's going to be pissed when he finds out none of this was worth it," Clint tossed his chunk of the 'Project: Echo' file onto the meeting room table.

"It's not that bad," Natasha was half asleep in the corner of the room.

Tony was taking pictures of the group with his phone, "Yeah, I'm getting good stuff here at least."

"Would you knock it off?" Sam threw a pen at his head.

No one wanted to be in the medical room once they'd woken up, so Tony had the suits move their beds into the meeting room. It made for a great picture- half of the Avengers in hospital beds looking like they were attending a board meeting, "It will instill confidence in millions," he posted the photo to one of his social media accounts.

Banner was taking his turn with the 'Project: Helius' files. It was all very technical- only he and Tony could understand what the files said. The science was all on the up-and-up though, he even knew of multiple experiments nearly identical in structure that had been conducted within the last few years, all with promising results. The only thing that seemed to be unique about 'Helius' was that they were doing the same tests twenty years earlier. "I'm skipping to the end, here-" he passed all but the last section to Tony. It was Stark's idea to go through all the data after all. They didn't need to know the specifics, they just needed to know about the accident.

"I've got Nessa's face," Sam held up a sheet of paper for them to see. Everything was redacted- marked out in black.

"Oh, good lord, you've cracked the case!" Tony gasped, then returned to reading his files.

Steve came into the room, pale and shaking, "C-Clint. It's your turn."

Clint swallowed hard and nodded, "Yeah, sure."

A suit came in and wheeled his bed out. Steve couldn't look him in the eye. "Go tell Thor his break is over, it's your turn now," Natasha had gone first. She was the one who came up with the schedule. Half an hour watching the Project Echo videos. Half an hour alone in the library to try and forget what you saw while the next person watched.

Steve nodded and left. "I'm so not looking forward to my turn," Tony shook his head. They had to go through everything. Even the torture tapes. They'd voted to make Steve exempt from having to see them- he was Bucky's best friend after all, but he insisted. He'd do his part, no matter what.

Thor came in and sat down hard in Steve's empty seat. Tony reached behind him for the bottle of scotch and poured some for Thor, "Anything?" he slid the drink across the table at him.

"Nothing useful," Thor took a sip, "This Agent Dennisson- he only refers to Inessa as 'Echo'. I can say she had a personality much like your own, Tony Stark. A strong-willed youngling."

"Not so strong-willed now though," Tony eyed Inessa sitting in the corner of the room.

"GUYS GUYS GUYS GUYS GUYS!" Clint came over the comms, excited, "Come here, now!"

Banner didn't look up from his papers, "Half the people in this room aren't exactly mobile," he reminded Clint, "Can you come to us?"

Tony looked up, "JARVIS, project what Clint's watching in here. Clint, you'll walk us through it."

"Fine! Don't worry, it's an easy part."

The image clicked on. Dennisson was leaving the room and Bucky was cleaning the torture implements, preparing to use them.

"What are we looking for?" Natasha frowned.

"JARVIS, can you duplicate my hearing aid settings so they can pick up what I'm getting?"

There was a sudden hum on the video, some kind of interference frequency. Banner frowned and put his papers down, "Is that electrical interference?"

"Wrong frequency, JARVIS, analyze that," Tony stared at the video.

"Analysis complete," JARVIS chimed, "Frequency match found in Stark Industries database."

"Well? Give me a visual, what are we listening to?" An old Stark file appeared on the screen next to an image of a particular wavelength and frequency. Tony growled slightly- that had been used on him once. It wasn't pleasant.

"The frequency matches one developed by Stark Industries as a paralytic. The frequency, when broadcast from any audio device, interrupts normal operations of the human brain, leading to paralysis or death, depending on how it is used. This project was deemed a violation of the Geneva convention and discontinued."

Natasha was surprised, "SHIELD's enemies have been using that for years, you made it?"

Tony half nodded, "It was a Stark project, but Obediah Stain spearheaded that one. He used it on me so he could take my mach 2 chest reactor." he returned his attention to JARVIS, "At these levels what would it do to a person?"

"Minimal paralysis, no more than average muscle fatigue. It would also make the subject more susceptible to mental fatigue or persuasion. Considering Mr. Barnes' insistence that Miss Inessa had an unknown ability, it is possible the particular frequency could suppress that."

"_If_ she has a power," Sam pointed to the redacted profile on her, "there isn't even a blank for that on this page. Name, age, location, sex, height, weight, athletic ability, recruitment recommendation. Nothing about 'ability' or 'power' or 'special considerations'."

"It is also worth noting that the estimated speaker placement would also serve to insulate the room from outside interference. I believe the signal was intended more for the Shadow than Miss Inessa."

"We'll add that to our list of things we know," Tony made a note on a pad of legal paper (which until now was blank), "Thanks, Clint. Keep us updated." He clicked off the comm and sighed, "JARVIS, save that frequency to the house speakers. If anyone sees our friend, punch it up and monitor how it responds."

"Hey," Banner skimmed through the page he was reading, "this might be something. Doctor Nikolai Ryker."

Natasha (the vampire who'd taken 4 bags of blood) frowned, "I thought his name was Anton?"

Banner held up his paper and pointed to a signature on the bottom, "Anton is the one who killed himself, yes, but this one's a brother. Nikolai. Also Hydra."

Sam skimmed the Project Echo personnel list, "I've got that on here too. Nikolai Ryker- consultant. He's the one who identified Inessa as a viable subject for 'Echo'."

"OK, then I definitely have something," Banner pulled out a second sheet, the personnel list for 'Helius'. There was something red typed next to Nikolai Ryker's name, "He's listed as going AWOL."

Thor leaned in, "Did he disappear when this experiment failed?"

Banner shook his head, "This paper-" he tapped the one with the signature, "-is his medical report summarizing the deaths of all 'Project: Helius' personnel. He was a _medical_ doctor, not a scientist.

"Find his personnel summary," Tony nudged Banner. It didn't take long- he was essentially holding the glossary and there were two-sheet files on everyone.

When Banner found it, he whipped the paper out and skimmed it, "Anton was the older brother," he announced, "Nikolai wasn't 'Helius', not until it went nuclear. He kept everyone comfortable while they died. Anton was off on some side job, we knew that, then Emilie dies and he kills himself. Nikolai signed the death certificates. He was supposed to take their bodies to Berezniki, in Russia. He never met the Hydra transport. Declared AWOL when his two months of leave were up."

Sam found his corresponding file, just one page long now, "Hydra tracked him down, living under the name Dimitri Aristov over in Chicago. They declared his AWOL charges null for 'Temporary Emotional Distress' and offered him 'Project: Echo' as a stepping stone to come back in. He found them a subject, but his re-entry was cancelled due to-" he turned the page over for the last few words, "-alcohol abuse. He's a rampant drunk."

Tony stretched, "Who's up for a field trip to Chicago?"

"Clint and Steve," Natasha looked to the others. Sam, Thor, and Banner nodded, "The rest of us are needed here to find Dennisson and Bucky."

"Good luck getting Steve to head out."

"There's a chance that if Nikolai Ryker identified Inessa as a subject he knows who she really is and what abilities she might have had. That kind of information is something Bucky would kill for, Steve will get it, and Clint will make sure Nikolai survives Steve."

* * *

**Englewood- Chicago, Illinois **

Even in civilian clothes, Clint and Steve felt conspicuous in what was probably Chicago's _worst_ neighborhood. Steve had grown up in a place just like this- the houses and apartments even looked basically the same. He remembered the Great Depression- how everything became rundown, boarded up, broken glass and plywood made up much of New York back then, as it did much of Englewood now.

The Avengers faces were plastered everywhere these days- and there were too many pics of Steve without his mask. He wore a faded beanie and oversized jeans with his zip-up sweatshirt to look more bulky. Clint just wore his normal clothes- he looked like a hobo half the time anyways and no one was really paying attention to the Robin Hood of the Avengers. The media hadn't even figured out yet that he had _powers_. It wasn't their "disguises" (if those even fooled anyone) that made them the targets of curious eyes- it was how hard they were trying to fit in. Anyone who saw them thought the same thing: world's _worst_ undercover cops.

"Do you know where we're going?" Steve asked as they walked, "Because I'm following you and we've just circled the block."

"Of course I know where I'm going," Clint lied, "I'm offended you would even ask."

They crossed the street and circled _that_ block. "You're an idiot," Steve declared, then jogged over to ask a nearby homeless man for directions. Clint saw money change hands, discretely, and the guy started gesturing down the street. Steve thanked him, shook his hand, and came back to Clint. "Two more blocks down, hang a left, take the second right and it'll be two miles in a straight line to the building."

"I knew that." Steve rolled his eyes and they continued on.

Of all the Avengers, Steve knew the least about Hawkeye. He was hardly quiet- ironic because Natasha took the prize in silent and mysterious- he just never said anything about _himself_. As they walked, Steve tried to remedy that, "Where are you from, by the way?"

"Huh?"

"Where are you from? Where's home?"

"Oh, nowhere important. When you work for SHIELD you're not really _from_ anywhere, you know?"

He did it again, answered without giving anything away, "Where did you grow up then? Did you have siblings? What's the origin story?"

Clint laughed, "I don't like to talk about it."

"I noticed," Steve wasn't letting him off the hook. "You know mine. It's only fair."

He considered it, "Natasha _has_ been on me to be a bigger part of all this... Fine." He chewed his lip, considering what to share. _Fuck it_. "You know I've got hearing issues, right?"

"Yes, but to be honest I didn't until last week or so."

Clint tapped his ear, "That's because SHIELD gave me nifty plug-ins. They burrow into my head a good ways and only come out when I need them to. Totally invisible. I lost my hearing when I was a kid- there was a car accident. My parents died, I went to a foster home with-" he considered leaving him out, but he'd decided to be honest, "-with my little brother. Berny. We hated it there, naturally. I had the idea to run off and join the circus and Berny followed."

Steve smiled, "You lived every kid's dream."

"Not quite," Clint shook his head, "We fell in with these two senior members of the show, Swordsman and Trickshot. Guess which one was my mentor?"

"You've got abilities too, right? Something about your eyes?"

"_That_ started after the car accident. I think it had something to do with losing my hearing, but on a bigger scale than simple adaptation. SHIELD looked into it but we couldn't find a trigger for abilities. They think I'm just an odd-duck. Something in my DNA maybe. I can _literally _zoom in on a target. It's like having binoculars. Helps a hell of a lot with archery, as it turns out. My brother was pretty good with a sword, so he gravitated towards Swordsman. I never liked the guy. He just had this air about him- not friendly."

Clint paused to think, "I believe it was seven months after we got to the circus? Whatever it was, I went to Swordsman's tent to ask him to stop training Berny. He was sitting in there counting money from the till that he'd swiped, and that money was what we all relied on to survive. I confronted him, he offered me a job as his partner in crime. When I turned it down he evidently made the same offer to Berny. I was going to expose him to the ringmaster after the next show, even had what I was going to say all planned out."

He hesitated then. "What happened next?" Steve prompted as they waited for a light to change.

"I had a routine, don't tell Stark, but I was a tightrope-walking archer. It sounds corny, but that's the circus for you. There was this part in my act where I jumped from the rope and took out ten different targets as I fell. I'd land in a net, bounce around for a while, and then climb out all safe and sound. Swordsman loosened the safety ropes holding the net. When I hit it came loose and I left a nice dent in the ground. He and Berny disappeared in the commotion."

"I spent a week in the hospital and three months in physical therapy. No one knew where Berny and Swordsman ran off to. I was so angry with my little brother I didn't care. Trickshot helped me get through it. He had this Robin Hood justice thing going on- rob from criminals to supplement the shit we scraped together in our act, and I joined in on it. The last guy we went after was a minor gang boss called Marko. Someone tipped him off- told him we were coming. He shot Trickshot point-blank and blew his brains all over the wall. I was on the roof, saw it go down. I fired at Marko but one of his guards jumped in the way. That was the first guy I killed."

He took a deep breath to steady himself. Steve waited, "It was Berny," Clint said finally. He looked away and coughed to clear his throat, "Anyways, after that I went off and did my own thing, you know? Robbed some stores, acted as lookout more often than not. Eventually my file came across Coulson's desk and he recruited me to SHIELD. Even upgraded my old bow and arrow. I liked playing Robin Hood with Trickshot, he gave me the chance to help even more people."

Steve saw their destination in the distance. He didn't let the conversation die on that note, he might never get the chance to learn about Clint again, "And what about now? What do you do when you're not at the Tower?"

"I've got a farm in South Dakota," Clint laughed, "Chickens, cows, horses, the whole nine yards."

"Seriously?" Steve chucked, "Farmer Hawkeye?"

"Well, mostly it's managed by this local youth club. They take care of everything, I just provide the land."

"After this Shadow business is over do we get a tour?"

Clint held out a hand for Steve to shake, "Deal. Now, to business."

They were in front of a six story brick building that must have been a school or government hall at some point, but it looked like shit now. Most of the windows were boarded up and squatters had invaded the place. They found a loose board and slid inside. It was dirty, reeked of stale piss and unwashed bodies, and people languished in the halls. Steve had seen an opium den (on accident) once when he was a kid, and even _that_ looked better than this place.

"Excuse me," Clint bent down in front of an old woman, "We're looking for Dimitri Aristov. We know he's in this building, but would you happen to know where?"

"Fourth floor," The woman had the gravely voice of an old smoker, "Second door on the left."

"Thank you," Clint palmed a twenty and slipped it into the woman's hand when she shook his. Places like this- you didn't let them see you get money. If anyone knew she had it she'd probably be beaten.

They found the correct door and knocked. When there was no answer Steve kneed the door and broke the knob. It swung in smoothly. "These people don't have a lot," Clint pointed out, "you can't just break their stuff like that."

Steve's face was hard, "I can if they're Hydra. You saw what they did to Nessa, and this guy is directly responsible."

"Point taken. Just keep it reigned in, OK?"

They entered the small, dank apartment. Bottles littered the floor. The whole space was dark- old strips of fabric hung over the windows. There was so much dust in the air it was like a haze. "Dimitri Aristov?" Steve called out.

Someone grunted from the corner under a pile of blankets. After a few seconds a man emerged. He had a thin face, his eyes were bloodshot and watery, and he had an enormous beer belly. Steve scrunched up his nose against the smell of booze that hung over the man like a fog. "The hell are you?" his words slurred and he wobbled slightly from side to side.

"We're here about your work with Hydra," Clint came around Steve to gauge the man's reaction.

His eyes lit up slightly and he tried to sit up taller- he hit his head against the wall, "Oh, Hydra? Why didn't you say Hydra? Come in, come in," he motioned for them to sit. Steve was getting dizzy trying to follow the man's head as it lolled about.

They stayed where they were, "You were a doctor on 'Project: Helius', correct?"

"Ye-huh," he made a motion generally resembling a nod, "Helius. That's the one where Emilie and Anton died. Yep yep."

"We know something was made or summoned when the project exploded," Clint prompted, "Do you know what it was?"

Dimitri scoffed, "No. Shit." he pronounced the words very slowly and clearly.

"Do you know what it was?"

"Didn't care. Saw it, didn't care. Just ran. I kept running," he giggled, "all the way to right here!"

They wouldn't get anything useful out of this nutter.

"What about 'Project: Echo'? You found Hydra's subject? A young girl, barely a teen. Do you remember that?"

The question had a sobering effect on Dimitri. He stopped giggling and nodded, "Hydra found me. They offered me _a lots_ and _a lots_ of money to find them their right girl, yup yup." he frowned, sad, "It's all gone now. That's why I live here. I had a real apartment," he giggled suddenly, "a real _shit_ apartment. But the door stayed closed," he pointed to the broken door and frowned, "why doesn't the door stay closed?"

Steve rolled his eyes, "Do you know who the girl was? If she had powers? What they were?"

"What they were?" Dimitri's eyes went wide, "What were they?" he hiccuped, then giggled again.

"What. Was. Her. Name?" Clint asked very slowly and emphasized each word.

Dimitri thought, "_I_ called her... Little... Bitch." he snickered. "Little bitch, little bitch, little bitch!"

Steve lost his patience. He grabbed Dimitri, lifted him off the ground, and shook him, "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT HYDRA DID TO HER?" Clint grabbed his arm and he threw the man back onto the pile of blankets. Dimitri's eyes rolled and he looked for a minute like he'd be sick. When he looked back up at Steve he was angry.

"Little Bitch lived off soup kitchens, stayed warm in libraries, stole money. Hydra just wanted a spy. She was better off with them!"

"Better off?" Steve pulled out his phone. He'd had Tony load a video on it to show Dimitri. He turned the volume all the way up and pressed 'play' so the drunk could see clearly just how _better off_ she'd been. It was a particularly gruesome scene- Bucky had her chained to the ceiling and was meticulously flaying the flesh from her shins. His metal hand was locked around her leg to pin it in place, but the rest of her writhed and shook. Her voice was already growing horse from the screams and cries.

Dimitri threw up then.

Steve turned off the video and put his phone back in his pocket, "How's that for better off?!"

Dimitri was shaking slightly- from the drink or the video, Steve couldn't tell. "At least she was in good hands," he countered. Steve jumped on him and started swinging. Dimitri's jaw and nose were his first targets. He shattered both and kept swinging until the middle of his face was pulp.

"WOAH, STEVE, CUT IT OUT!" Clint struggled to pull Steve off Dimitri. The man was whining and crying, "GET OFF OR I'LL TAZE YOU!" he had a couple mini-bolts strapped around one leg and an equally small collapsible crossbow holstered to the other.

Steve allowed himself to be pulled backwards. Dimitri's face was a bloody wreck. Clint shoved him towards the door and pointed to the hall, "I'll finish up here, you take a walk and cool down."

When Steve was gone he turned back to the man, who was trying to use a blanket to staunch the blood flowing from his ruined nose. "Just tell us what Inessa's real name is, and where she came from."

"So you can kill her, Hydra's great assassin!" he seemed to forget about his nose and tipped over, "I picked her, you know. Me."

"We covered that, yeah," Clint pulled out his own phone. Dimitri flinched- another bad video? Instead Clint showed him a photograph of Inessa he took just before leaving the Tower, "She isn't an assassin. Hydra couldn't make her one of them, so they ripped out whoever she was. We need to know so we can help her. What was her name?"

"You said Inessa," Dimitri seemed to think that helped.

"Yes," Clint was getting a headache, "but that's because we don't know her name. Do you know it? Where did you find her? Here in Chicago?"

Dimitri sat up and shook his head, "Oh no, I didn't get her here. I got her far, far away, yup yup. The whole other side of the world," he half-sang the second sentence and almost tipped over again. Suddenly he looked serious, "Inessa. Pure. Not a good name for an assassin. There's nothing scary about that. Did you know, after I joined, Hydra wanted to recruit a KGB assassin who's name means Christmas? Not scary either. She called herself some other name. Hydra never got her."

Clint took a deep breath and nodded, "Yeah, Natasha. Black Widow."

"Much cooler," his eyes were wide as he nodded, "_Much_ cooler."

"She was a kid then too."

Dimitri shook his head, "Nope, nope, nope."

"Yep, yep, yep," Clint was beyond done with this conversation, "I know her. I know she was a kid."

"That doesn't sound right."

"Back on subject," Clint put a hand on Dimitri's arm to steady him, "Inessa- Echo- whatever. What was her name? When you found her, what was she called?"

"Oh her!" Dimitri pointed to the phone, "I called her 'Little Bitch'!"

Ten minutes later Clint walked out of the building half-crazed himself. He found Steve leaning on a street sign not far from the door, "Get anything new out of that scumbag?"

"Not really," Clint didn't tell him about Dimitri knowing Natasha, it was irrelevant. Half of Hydra was probably rooting for Black Widow. She'd have been just a kid, maybe even younger than Inessa when she was taken for 'Project: Echo', "She isn't local. He said she came from the _whole other side of the world_," Clint mimicked Dimitri's sing-song voice. "Ugh," he started walking away from the building, "I'm never drinking again. I hate guys like that."

"I can't get drunk," Steve wiped some dried blood from his knuckles then shoved his hand in his pocket.

Clint side-eyed him, "He deserved it. We just needed more information from him before you killed him."

"I know," Steve looked back at the building, "I just have a really bad feeling about that guy."


	36. Chapter 35

**Dennisson's Base **

She was waiting for him on the balcony of the ruined Avengers Tower once more. He moved as if in a trance, powerless to change the dream.

"What happened here?" he whispered.

"You're the one who was supposed to stop it," she looked out over the city, "You brought it here," _the Shadow jumped a ride to the Tower in Bucky's mind_, "You said it would be safe," _glancing at the Avengers in the recovery room, at Inessa in the corner, he promised what he was doing was to keep them safe, keep them alive_, "And where the hell were you when everything burned?"

Her stance, her speech, her armor- Natasha?

Bucky looked down, ashamed. They stood in silence for a long while, "You asked for my help. at least tell me what did all of this."

Whoever she was, she scoffed at him, "As if you didn't know what would happen when you abandoned us. Turn around."

He didn't want to see the monster again. He didn't want to see 'Project: Helius'. But Bucky couldn't change anything. He turned.

Everything fragmented. He saw quick snapshots- Steve being crushed under a wall of water, Clint in his apartment throwing a knife at Natasha's head; Sam crashing into a park; Thor being thrown through a wall by Hulk; Bucky's own body, slumped against a streetlight and struggling to remain conscious.

He felt it- the Shadow- behind him. He couldn't fight it in this condition, he could barely move. He turned his head as far as he was able, heard its snarling growl, then waited to die.

Everything went dark, then a woman's voice hissed in his ear, "_Stay in the light_!"

* * *

Bucky jerked awake, "Finally!" Dennisson was exasperated, "If you're going to pass out after just a bit of slicing this will take _forever_."

"Wh-" Bucky looked around. He was in a tub. A warm tub. His bloody, soiled clothes were in the corner and he was wearing only shorts. The water was rust-red from blood.

"It was getting rather difficult to see what I was cutting, "Dennisson explained, "so I thought a good rinse would help."

His hand was swollen and purple, as was most of him actually. Bucky was suffering, true, but Dennisson was just a skinner, shamefully it was the Winter Soldier who knew the more creative tortures. Pain like this he could stomach for at least a couple weeks. Zola had been worse.

"Gee, thanks," he was sarcastic, "Could be hotter though."

Dennisson shrugged, "Could be, but warm water works best with this. Now," he pulled a glass bottle out from behind him roughly the size of a beer bottle, "I'm not a doctor, never had the knack for putting people _back_ together, but I do know if a wound isn't at least cleaned it becomes infected. And we don't want that, now do we?" he removed the top and began pouring the liquid into the water, moving side to side so everything made it in.

Once the bottle was empty Bucky sniffed, ignoring the tingling pain already spreading from his open wounds. It wasn't gasoline. "Let's just leave that to clean out those nasty cuts. I'll be back to check on you after lunch," Dennisson walked out, but only went so far as the observation room next door.

It didn't take much longer for Bucky to start burning in earnest, for his skin to melt- for blood to start flowing. He screamed- horrifically and quite loudly. He thrashed around in the water, but he was handcuffed to the bottom of the tub. The thrashing splashed more of the water into his face and his screams intensified.

Morris entered and looked at Bucky in the room, then turned to Dennisson with a questioning expression, "Oh dear-" Dennisson looked at the bottle with mock surprise, "You lout- I said 'hydrogen peroxide', not 'hydrocloric acid'."

"My mistake, sir," Morris turned away and walked quickly from the room, "I shall go remedy the error."

* * *

The next time Bucky woke he couldn't see. He tried to scream, but he couldn't breathe right. He felt like his entire body was melting away.

Morris supervised the neutralization of the acid with thinly concealed distaste. It only highlighted the problem further- Dennisson was losing control. Coming here, to the home of their enemy, putting them on deaths very door- then standing down, handing over their files, all for one man who wasn't even a significant threat. They could have sent a team to raid the Tower before the Avengers regrouped, sent Tyson up as a doctor instead of a repair man, had him kill every last one of them.

No, Dennisson was out of control and his field of vision was narrow at best. If Morris hadn't removed the final report from the 'Project: Helius' file they would have everything. They still might. Dennisson didn't need complications, he needed to make an all-out stand against the Avengers- now. Before they figured out anything further, before they found a way to subdue the Shadow-beast.

"Don't die just yet," he left Bucky loose on the table, writhing.

* * *

"Wake up," Dennisson shook Bucky's arm, sending him into fresh spasms, "this is my favorite part!" Bucky could only listen. He heard boots, shouting, some screams, then more shouting. "Do you remember that? When you tried to escape with Echo?"

The drugs made it impossible to focus. He still couldn't see- opening his eyes was too difficult. He just lay there, lost and in pain.

"What about this one?" Dennisson clicked another video, "The time you called me a, wait for it-" something happened in the video, "-that. A 'vicious little sadist'," he leaned back and his voice took on a dangerous tone, "do you remember that one?"

Morris walked in with a medical report. It wasn't promising. He glanced at the video. Bucky was on his knees before Alexander Pierce, swearing some loyalty- from what Morris knew of Hydra's former leader, he certainly had a flair for the dramatic. Dennisson was obsessing again.

"You made me look like an idiot," he spat as he spoke, "made me look incompetent! Agent Dennisson is given one of Hydra's best assets and not only does he take TWO YEARS to get a simple job done, the _asshat_ turns out to be falling off the Hydra bandwagon when the boss comes to visit! It took me YEARS to live that down!"

"I have the reports on Barnes' medical condition," Morris interrupted his tantrum.

"Who?"

Morris barely withheld his eye-roll, "James Buchanan Barnes? The Winter Soldier," he pointed to Bucky.

Dennisson smirked, "That's his real name?"

"Yes, sir."

"Do you think he is aware how ridiculous it is?" Dennisson asked casually.

"I'm sure it keeps him awake at night, yes."

"Careful," Dennisson warned, "I'll let that pass because of your performance thus far, but don't push it."

Another sign of his weakness. He should have killed Morris on the spot for his impunity. Morris began to hate him for the disappointment he had proven to be. Ever since he entered that machine... Such promise- wasted.

"The doctors estimate with his current level of treatment he will survive only a handful more days."

Dennisson sneered, "Then when he dies deliver him to the Avengers, destroy their morale, and we attack while they mourn. See? I'm not as incompetent as you may think."

"Yes, sir," Morris left, fuming. Deliver his body so they all had more cause to unify after Dennisson and his band of quasi-trained killers? Face them on open ground on _their_ terms? It was idiotic. It was what went wrong with Loki's plan. They should never have taken the Winter Soldier in the first place. Separated, their forces had a chance. With the Avengers all aimed squarely at the same enemy? It was a pointless fight, a guaranteed loss.

Something had to change to prompt Dennisson into action. Now.

* * *

Bucky felt something. Someone was tugging at him, pulling. With a grunt they moved him. He was in so much pain he couldn't process what was happening, not even when, at last, he was lifted and carried out into the hall.

He must have passed out again. The fresh hell of gravel digging into his unprotected back woke him. A sharp pain as something was pulled from his forehead, then the crunch of footsteps retreating. At least they'd set him in the shade, somewhere quiet, somewhere without Dennisson's voice grating on his mind.

His comms un-jammed, on the other side of the city from Dennisson's base, it took Tony all of five minutes to find him.

* * *

He dreamed about Inessa. That day he tried to help her escape, the one Dennisson had woken him to hear. He hadn't known what he would do, hadn't planned it at all. His mind had been a jumble of half-memories and fleeting glimpses of a past long lost. Suddenly he simply knew- he had to get her out.

She had become as he was now- lost in the pain and despair of her circumstances. He picked her up, carried her to the door, and left towards the back exit. He ran quickly, but the doctors who monitored her vitals and whatever signal it was they filled the room with returned faster than he anticipated. The alarm sounded.

He ran on until he heard troops closing in from ahead. He set her down on the cold floor gingerly and she sagged against the dark stone. Her eyes had been fluttering, now they settled at the reviving touch of the stone. It must have felt like a balm after the plastic table, the hot room.

Hydra spilled into the hall in front of him and Bucky stepped forward, ready to fight. He felt something- a tug. She was holding the back of his pant leg. Other soldiers arrived. They were swarmed. He killed four when they tried to drag her away. She passed out again at some point, her hand fell from the back of his-

The back of his leg.

He set her down on the cold floor. She sagged against the wall. He watched her. He stood back up. The soldiers appeared. He stepped forward. She grabbed the back of his pants.

He set her down. She grabbed the back of his leg.

He'd never turned around.

* * *

Bucky's eyes shot open, breaking the scabs that held them closed. He was handcuffed to another table with something moving above him. Natasha jumped up as Bucky began to rip at the cloth cuffs holding his arms in place, "Relax! Don't move, it's alright. Just hold still, OK?" she tapped her comm, "He's awake."

She was wearing a skirt of all things, exposing her shins. One leg was paler than the other and a golden band ran around it- he remembered the joint being severed. Thor taking her away. Bucky panted and looked at the ceiling above. He _couldn't_ move- he was bound too securely, but he tried anyways. He had to see where he was- he couldn't just believe Natasha.

Steve and Banner made it into the room first. They crowded around the table, mindful of the arm that extended upward and zig-zagged over Bucky's naked body. His neck had a metal ring around it to keep his head from turning, and with Steve at his periphery he fought harder to move them into his line of sight, "Stay still!" Natasha commanded.

"Bucky, the machine is helping you, alright?" Steve flinched as Bucky squirmed, trapped in a full-blown panic attack, "I can't touch you- and if you don't stop moving you'll do more harm than good. I need you to hear me, buddy!" He came as close to his friend's face as he could without leaning into the path of the arm.

Bucky closed his eyes and took several ragged breaths, then stopped moving. Slowly he opened his eyes and looked up at Steve. Tony appeared over his shoulder and held up a tablet so Bucky could see the readouts from the machine.

"This is some new tech Stark Industries is partnering on," Stark explained, "it uses synthetic tissue sheets to bind cells and repair damage, but it's extremely precise work. If you move around, you'll grow flesh and nerves over _delicate_ orifices- ones you wouldn't want a doctor cutting back open, if you catch my drift. Just one more hour, then you can come out."

"She was in front of me!" Bucky babbled, "She was in front of me, then she was behind me, but I didn't turn around!"

"Come again?" Clint frowned.

"Inessa! I know what her power is!"

Natasha leaned forward, "What is it? We know they were suppressing it, but _what_ was it?"

Bucky nodded, "In the lights! It was in the light, the frequency, yes! I took her away from them and she must have recovered enough to use her powers!"

"For the slower folks, what powers?" Sam prompted.

Steve got it first, "Teleportation."


	37. Chapter 36

**Dennisson's Base **

"WHERE THE FUCK IS HE?!" Dennisson was screaming so loudly Morris could hear him from the front door. He rolled his eyes and went in to see what the issue was. As soon as he took the stairs to the lower levels he was jumped by Dennisson, "WHAT DID YOU DO YOU WORM?"

Morris was pinned against the wall, high enough up that his feet dangled off the floor, "Where is who?" he choked on the words.

Dennisson slammed him against the wall again, "WHERE DID YOU TAKE THE WINTER SOLDIER?!"

"I DIDN'T TAKE HIM ANYWHERE," Morris got a gulp of air and managed to get out something resembling a shout.

"HE IS NO LONGER IN THIS FACILITY, I KNOW YOU DON'T APPROVE OF HOW I AM PROCEEDING, WHAT DID YOU DO WITH HIM!" Dennisson was crazed.

"I DIDN'T TOUCH HIM!" Morris leveled a kick to Dennisson's groin and was dropped. He tried to stand up but Dennisson's fist slammed into the side of his head.

He pulled Morris' head back by his hair and hissed in his ear, "Tell me what you did with the Winter Soldier or I swear to god-"

"I didn't do anything to him!" Morris gasped, "I don't know where he is!"

"LIAR!" Dennisson slammed his fist into the side of Morris' head to punctuate each word "TELL. ME. WHERE. HE. IS."

Morris couldn't answer. Not with half his brains smashed into the concrete flooring. Dennisson stood up and spat on the body, "Worthless simp!"

He turned around and found Icer (as he'd named the man) behind him, looking at the body. Dennisson sneered, "Tell the others to start getting ready. It's time we slaughter the Avengers once and for all." he bent down and rummaged through Morris' pockets until he found his burner phone. He tossed that to Icer as well, "And call Tyson. Tell him I have a special job for him."

* * *

**Avengers Tower **

Clint poked at Bucky's newly grown flesh and shivered, "What does that even feel like?"

"He can't answer," Natasha had plastic gloves on and was using a make-up sponge to smooth out thin sheets of activated synthetic skin to Bucky's facial burns. After a few minutes she gave the boys the go-ahead to talk as she finished up with the back of his neck.

"It feels... cold. And it's over-sensitive," he shivered in the cool air, "like the skin between your toes."

Natasha nodded as she finished up, "You'll have to re-form callouses."

"Eew," Clint thought of something, "Re-growing body hair. Itchy."

"Bet it beats reattaching a leg," Natasha scratched at her pale shin, just beneath the gold band, "it's all pins and needles."

"Yes, but we get to see you in a skirt," Clint smiled like a bratty child. Natasha carefully removed her gloves, then kicked his foot out from under him and he went tumbling to the floor, "Help," he cried out in an old-man voice, "I've fallen and I can't get up! On second thought," he gave Natasha's skirt a significant glance, "leave me here, I like the view."

Bucky chuckled. He was feeling better, now that the burns were sealed up, and he just really needed to laugh at something. When he worked up the courage, he spoke what was on his mind, "Did you get anything from the files?" If they said no- if it wasn't all for something... Bucky wasn't sure he could handle that right now.

Clint and Natasha sobered up fairly quickly. They had already discussed how much to tell him, "We got a lead- the frequency Hydra pumped into the room. We're hoping it might be useful against the Shadow. Maybe trap it somehow. If the alpha, silver-eyes, can be caught, maybe the others won't be able to come through."

"That's good," Bucky's spirits did lift slightly, "And Inessa? Did you find out anything about who she was?"

Natasha shook her head and finished up the last of the treatment, "We've got no leads there. The 'Project: Echo' file was useless." He couldn't know about Nikolai Ryker or Dimitri Aristov. Besides, it was a dead end. The man's mind was soup. JARVIS had combed through his history and found, literally, nothing. Hydra may have kept tabs on his location in the files, but they erased him from everywhere else.

Bucky accepted what they told him, "We have to keep looking," he prompted, "a kid doesn't vanish off the streets without at least _someone_ noticing. If we capture Dennisson I swear to god I'll _make_ him speak."

There it was- precisely what Natasha was worried about and just what Thor had warned Steve against the day he brought Bucky into the Tower- a darkness that, if left to fester, could destroy everything he was trying to build here.

Bucky was done forcing himself to be the guy Hydra captured all those decades ago. Intentional or not, he was slowly reviving the Winter Soldier.

* * *

Banner was on duty watching Inessa in Natasha's apartment. Simmons had sent an email that morning saying her most recent blood samples were almost completely clear of the toxin, so they were all hopeful she'd make some big breakthrough in her recovery- which at this point pretty much meant blinking out of rhythm. Thor sat in the armchair across from her, watching the Astana surveillance. It helped to be in the room with her- in a strange way. When the videos became too much he could look up, see her, and remind himself that the girl was safe now, in good hands.

"Why are you still putting yourself through that?" Banner asked at last.

Thor pulled out his headphones and scratched at his ears, "I want to find the day James spoke of- when he tried to escape with her. He thought it was within the first year."

"Checking out the teleportation?"

There was a pause while Thor tried to decide how to respond, "I wish to_\- _Something doesn't_-" _he shook his head, frustrated, "I do not know what I am looking for, to be honest with you."

Banner looked over at Inessa himself, "I know what you mean. It seems-"

"It seems as if we are looking at _two_ things, not merely one."

"I've been thinking the same thing," he closed his book and looked back to Thor, "Teleportation is great and all, and Bucky said they wanted her to be a spy, I get where it would come in handy, but... _Two years_. They tried for _two years. _How long would-"

He trailed off and Thor took over, "Asgard has never condoned the torture or conversion of our enemies," he prefaced, "but some of those we _tenuously_ call allies have. From what I have learned and observed from our own people enslaved by the Jotun, there is a point where any torturer knows if the person will break or not. It is rare in children as young as she was, but some will allow themselves to lose their own minds, become-" he gestured to Inessa,"as she is. Even for the races who live thousands of years that point is within only a few weeks."

Banner nodded, "They knew they couldn't make her Hydra, but they kept going. _Why_."

"That is but the first piece," Thor spun the tablet around so Banner could see the paused image of Bucky preparing his tools, "The Winter Soldier was very important to Hydra, correct?"

"According to their files he was probably their most valuable weapon."

"Why waste him on a project for so long they knew would fail? And why keep the girl alive once it failed?"

"You're missing something," Banner pointed out, "If the Winter Soldier is pulled in on this thing, why leave the recruiting up to a rampant drunk?"

Thor rubbed his eyes and looked back at the image, "On the one hand, we have a project that seems to be the most important thing Hydra is working on, yet many details would fit only a small project, a mere curiosity."

"And you think seeing Bucky try to escape with Inessa will give you some kind of clue?" Banner prompted.

"It is the only thing we have yet to examine."

Banner sighed, "That, my friend, is what we call grasping at straws."

* * *

Over dinner the Avengers began sorting out battle plans.

"What can you tell us about Dennisson?" Steve asked over lasagna.

Bucky shrugged, picking at his food, "He's unhinged, I'm pretty sure he's losing control. He hinted at having some other Hydra agents there, but I was kept pretty much in the one room so I have no idea how big of a force he has or what their capabilities are."

"How did you get out?" they hadn't asked him that one yet.

"I don't really know," he thought back to what he could remember of the rescue, "I was carried out of the warehouse, but I have no idea by whom. I was fading in and out the entire time."

Tony chose to speak through his food, "Where I grabbed you there were no warehouses, so at some point you were loaded into a car. They put you down somewhere out of sight of any major roads, between two construction sites closed for the weekend," he swallowed, "so whoever it was they wanted to give us our best shot at finding you before anyone else. There was a comm jammer next to you. The release wasn't activated, they just kind of pulled it out. It would take some specialty tools and limited knowledge of how the device worked. Any theories? Someone who was around you more than the others maybe?"

"The only people I saw were Dennisson and his assistant, some mousy guy. I got the impression he wasn't too thrilled with pretty much _anything_ Dennisson was doing, but he wasn't exactly disturbed by what he was doing to _me_ either."

Steve made a mental note, "If there is dissent in his camp, maybe we can exploit it. Any attack we stage on his facility has to be fast, so he doesn't have time to activate any more devices in the Tower. That being said, something tells me_ he_ will strike first," he hesitated, "Clint, I know it's not ideal, but I think you should stay behind with Inessa, no matter which scenario plays out."

Clint was stunned, "What? Why!"

"If Dennisson attacks us or if we attack him there is a risk he will power down Avengers Tower and the Shadow will attack. Someone needs to be here to keep Inessa safe, we can't let it get hold of her and, if Tony's frequency works or just pisses it off, you're the only one- I mean-"

"I'm the only deaf one," Clint was pissed, "You do realize that means I can't hear the comms either? I wouldn't have any idea of what is going on and you can't call me in if there is an emergency. It's a shit plan. Leave Tony behind, he'll have the helmet on, he can tune out the audio."

"We'll need Tony to fight-"

"What, and you _don't_ need me?"

"Clint-" Natasha needed to diffuse the situation.

Sam looked around uncomfortably, "I can stay. I mean, of all of us I'm the closest to a civilian. I can watch Inessa, keep my ears plugged up, and we don't loose much on the fighting front."

Steve shook his head, "First off, you're hardly close to a civilian, you're an incredible fighter. Second," he turned back to Clint, "I'm sorry but yeah, _you're deaf_. You spent _how many_ years in complete silence? If someone gets into the Tower you'll be able to tell. You could tell the Shadow was here before anyone even came close to seeing it. Clint, we don't just need someone who can't hear watching the Tower. We need someone who has had practice and training fighting one sense down, and that's you."

Clint wouldn't let it go, "What about a remote suit? Or Bucky? He's hardly fit to fight a cold!"

"When the power went out, those suits were next to useless. Don't argue Stark," Steve didn't want to hear Tony trying to talk with his mouth full (again), "-and Bucky's in because he's the only one of us who's _seen_ Dennisson's face on something other than an old video."

"Dress it up however you want, it's just you giving a spot on the team to your buddy. It's favoritism."

"It's _strategy_ Clint. I need you in the field, just like we needed you when the Chit'auri attacked, but we can't fight a two-front war, and if the Shadow gets Inessa, that's exactly what will happen." Clint started to speak again, "I'm sorry," Steve cut him off before he got a word out, "but that's how it has to be."

There was silence at the table for a bit, then Clint got up abruptly, flipping his chair as he did so, "Clint-" Natasha reached out to him but he pulled away and stormed off up into the Tower. No one spoke for a long time. Steve shook his head and stared at his food. He wasn't willing to meet anyone's eye. _It's the right call, _he told himself over and over. Natasha stood up, "I'll go talk to him," she put a hand on Bucky's metal shoulder, "Bucky-"

"Don't worry," he assured her, "I get it. He's pissed. No hard feelings."

She patted his arm and walked off. Banner looked to Inessa, "Now would be a really great time to snap out of it, kid."


	38. Chapter 37

**Avengers Tower **

Between the minor argument over dinner and the much larger one that took place in private later that night, Steve was done listening to Clint- a stance which he made very clear. He hadn't pulled the decision to hold him back out of his ass, it made strategic sense- why couldn't he see that? He was one of SHIELD's best, yet he was acting like some egotistical hothead.

Within two days JARVIS reported a nearly 300% uptick in tourists from countries with known Hydra ties. Dennisson was bringing in an army, and all they could do was wait for the attack. Tony had gone to the mayor, CIA, and FBI to try and get some sort of protective action organized, all without luck. No one was willing to further fan the unrest after Bucky's little swan dive from Avengers Tower. When he took to social media to encourage New Yorkers to remain in their homes his accounts were shut down. JARVIS could re-instate them, but the constant battle for control meant the message was trapped in digital limbo where it did no one any good. Steve couldn't even raise SHIELD.

"He'll attack at night," Bucky was positive, "he isn't afraid of Hydra's monster, and he knows we sure as hell are." Bucky was wearing denim and wool everywhere- even though it was hot and he looked ridiculous- to try and build up his new flesh. And he wasn't the only one preparing for battle.

Banner was living in his Hulk-Out clothes, and Thor had returned to his full regalia. Natasha trained Sam in hand-to-hand combat, but kept the lessons short and didn't push hard enough to tire him out so that he would be ready whenever the attack came.

Clint just sat alone with Inessa and fumed. He wasn't debating that the plan made sense, it was just- he hadn't fought with them since the _last_ battle of New York. Tony, Thor, Steve, Nat, hell, even _Sam_ had all saved the world with flair since then. They'd gotten themselves on TV and been dubbed "Earth's Mightiest Heroes". But what about the one who fired the arrows? After Christmas he'd been in a mall, stalking a suspected Chi'tauri arms dealer and he saw no less than _four_ kids in like at the toy store- all returning their Hawkeye dolls for "literally any other Avenger", as one of them loudly declared. Banner hadn't been in the limelight either- but Hulk was sold out everywhere.

_Did you hear about the Mall of America disaster?_ Clint wanted to ask, _No? What about the obliteration of Disney's Florida parks over high-peak tourist season? No? That nuclear attack that wiped out India? Not that either? You're fucking welcome! _He didn't care about the fame, not really, but he _hadn't_ done his heroics in front of an audience of millions. He did it from the rafters, where no one could see him. Now another battle was on the horizon, and once again he wouldn't be there. The surplus Avenger. The Avenger's _babysitter_.

"If you keep scowling your face will get stuck like that," Natasha came up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm not scowling, that's my resting face."

"Really?" she peeked around to get a look, "because these are your scowling shoulders."

He shrugged her off, "I thought you were training Sam."

"I was, but then this slipped off," she pressed the Asgardian band into his chest. He forced a smile and turned to inspect the leg. It was seamless- he couldn't even tell where it had been severed.

"No more pins and needles?"

"None."

"That's great, Nat!"

She raised an eyebrow, "Once more, with feeling."

Clint tried being cheeky, "I'm in mourning. With that off you'll go back to the fight-suit and I won't get any up-skirt shots to look forward to from the paparazzi."

Natasha smiled, "Good cover."

She glanced to Inessa and patted his arm, "Hey, want a mission?"

"Whatcha got?"

"Thor's been trying to find the footage from when Bucky took Nessa out of the torture room. Could you help him with it?"

"Sure, whatever."

Natasha leaned in to whisper something (presumably naughty) in his ear when they heard a sudden parade of booms, followed half a second later by a shudder throughout the Tower. In the twilight outside the city went dark as buildings were knocked off the grid. Only the streetlights and Avengers Tower remained lit- all thanks to Tony's insistence his arc reactors power New York's emergency services.

"Avengers Assemble," Clint said sarcastically. He stood with Natasha and grabbed her arm as she turned. "Take care of yourself," they kissed quickly and she ran off downstairs.

Clint turned to Inessa, vacant as ever. He sighed and reached up to pull out his hearing aids, "So," he hoped he sounded somewhat intelligible, it was hard to speak without being able to hear, "shall we bake _cookies_ for when the heroes return?"

* * *

**Avengers Tower- Meeting Room**

Steve and Tony were already gathering information when the Avengers came together. No one save Thor and Banner were dressed yet.

"We've got simultaneous explosions all over New York," Steve spoke very quickly and waved to a map. "Dennisson is forcing us to divvy up."

Bucky glanced at the map, then pointed to one of the southern locations, "That's Dennisson."

"You sure?"

He nodded, "State supreme court. Big and flashy. It's him."

"That's our target then," Bucky nodded and left to start loading up on knives and guns. The rest of the locations Steve dolled out at random, "Natasha and Sam- Battery Park. Banner, you and Stark are taking Washington Square. Thor- Bryant Park is yours, and it's just a few blocks east off the balcony."

"Look for fire," Tony suggested. Thor nodded.

"Get civilians out, then focus on routing Hydra. Keep it contained as best you can, there are _no_ acceptable losses. Go!" Everyone ran towards the armory door- save Thor.

"Natasha," Steve called ahead to her as they ran, "Is Clint-"

"He knows what to do!" she ran into her workshop where she kept her suit and Steve changed direction to show Bucky where their new uniforms were kept.

* * *

**Thor: Bryant Park**

Thor jumped off the balcony and launched himself towards a plume of orange-black smoke in the east. He heard gunfire and the scream of the human's emergency vehicles. The foe, he knew, would be likely waiting for him. He changed the direction of his descent and flew around to the back of the park so that when he landed he would be facing towards Avengers Tower. Any trap they had ready would be thwarted.

Bryant Park was little more than a large grassy space with a cafe at one end- Asgard's banquet hall was larger. Now though the cafe was a fireball. Bodies lay strewn about- some in far too many pieces. Black-clad soldiers fired upon emergency vehicles and screaming civilians alike with rocket launchers and large guns- half of them turned inward as soon as he landed.

Thor immediately whipped up a storm around himself. Bullets _pinged_ off his armor and he struggled to shield his exposed face. As soon as he realized their barrage would not soon end, he threw himself forward blindly into a line of soldiers. Before they could recover he was gone, smashing into another batch. They broke formation quickly to minimize how many he could target at once, but maintained their combined inward-outward assault.

One thing worked in Thor's favor- to avoid catching their comrades in a crossfire, they kept most shots aimed at his torso and legs- which were protected well enough. It also meant that when he uncovered his face he had a few seconds to take stock of the new arrangement of men.

Thor released a wave of lightning and blasted several soldiers at once. He opened a small window for police to push in towards the victims and pull people out of the firefight.

A bullet grazed Thor's cheek and he launched into the air- only to tip downwards and crash with enough force to put a small crater in the park- and take out four more Hydra soldiers. He may not be able to throw the hammer with any real effect, but he could at least-

Something slammed into him and knocked him off balance. Thor swung Mjolnir blindly while he recovered his balance. Whatever it was, it slammed into him again a second later and threw him backwards several feet. He launched into the air again and blanketed a Hydra-controlled area of the park with electricity. The more emergency personnel who "helped" by filling the park, the less Mjolnir's lightning would be useful. He couldn't put any civilians in harm's way. This was quickly becoming surgeons work, and the hammer was not a precision tool.

There was a blur and a dark-skinned man appeared, grinning wickedly up at Thor. He held a club in each hand. Thor dove for him and he moved so impossibly fast that when Thor landed he was in front of the man rather than the other way around. The stranger slammed his club into the back of the god's helmet with savage strength and speed. Thor wheeled around, but the man hit him again from behind.

Dazed, and more than a little angry, Thor faked a turn and tackled the man when he tried to intercept. They tumbled head-over-heels, then the man phased out and vanished again- he was moving too fast.

Hydra was losing ground now that Thor had put sizable dents in their manpower. He wheeled about freely, looking for his enemy. He spotted him on the far side of the park, still grinning. The man pointed to Thor and waved. He looked down just in time to see the bomb on his chest trigger.

With his last seconds, Thor released a vortex of wind and lightning at the man- if he was to fall, his foe would fall too. When he fired he saw something from the corner of his eye and turned his head. The last thing he saw before the bomb blew was Avengers Tower going black.

* * *

**Avengers Tower**

Clint was on edge, trapped in the Tower in complete silence. They could be screaming through the comms for him and he'd never know. He clenched the hearing aids in his fist as he paced- nearly put them in- then threw them angrily at the dining room table. He couldn't. _Stupid fucking plan_.

He picked up a tablet and told (or hoped he did) JARVIS to bring up the feed Thor had been watching from 'Project: Echo'. He put a hand on his throat and felt he vibrations as he spoke. _Good, at least I'm speaking out loud_. He hadn't been truly deaf in a long time- he'd forgotten how frustrating it could be. Especially in a fight.

The tablet lit up with security footage and Clint set it to play double-speed. He paced the apartment furiously along the balcony window- half watching the footage, half watching the distant glow of fires still raging in the dark city.

_Stupid. Fucking. Plan_. Clint dismissed a cold prickle on the back of his neck as simple nerves- he didn't know the Shadow was watching.

* * *

**Natasha and Sam: Battery Park**

As soon as Natasha was in her suit and loaded with weapons she ran up to Sam's launch pad. He was ready for her, wings already on.

"When was the last time we really fought together?" she hit the door release.

"Astana? For like ten minutes?" he double-checked the straps on the wings.

She smiled, "You want point or sweep-up?"

He shrugged and pulled down his goggles, "Ladies first!"

Natasha lunged forward and dove off the pad and out the side of the building, "NOT WHAT I MEANT!" he took off after her. As soon as he was in range she spun mid-air and grabbed on to his boot. He banked sharply and set a course for the financial district and Battery Park.

Strangely, there was no smoke from their destination. Sam glanced down at Natasha. She wasn't telling him he was going the wrong way, so he pressed on.

Battery Park, the narrow strip of greenery between New York City and the Hudson, was completely encased in clear, slippery ice. Natasha kicked her heels together as they landed and spikes shot out. Sam maintained a low altitude and swept the park for signs of life.

There was a mountain of clear ice not far from them- and inside they could see chunks of soil, bark, and people, their faces trapped forever now in a look of surprise and fear. It was as if the park had frozen at the moment of the explosion.

Sam felt something hit his back and he screamed as his muscles suddenly clamped. He shook uncontrollably and struggled not to bite his own tongue as his jaw locked. His wing unit shorted out and he crashed heavily to the ground.

Natasha saw the Tazer-Arrow a second before it hit Sam's wing unit- too late to do anything. She wheeled around, guns out, and saw- Clint? No. His eyes were wrong- slightly off color and way too pleased with the shot. A copy. Her hesitation almost killed her. Someone fired at her from the side while she was distracted and she dropped to the ground with only a fraction of a second to spare.

A man with black hair was standing to her left with an arm out. The tips of his fingers were blue and let off a constant shower of powder- as if he were freezing the moisture in the air itself. Natasha glanced at Sam. She saw that the arrow had stopped sparking and fell from the wings. He was moving already. She cast another glance to the Clint lookalike, he was loading another arrow. The Ice-Man was walking towards her.

She dove at him first and tried to stab the arrow into his stomach. He reached out for her with his frozen hand and she twisted away, losing her chance. While his focus was on her still she ran for the Clint-Clone. He gave up trying to seat the arrow and ran to meet the charge. She slammed into him full-force and they tumbled across the slick ground. The Ice-Man wasn't a professional- he was waiting for a clear shot of her. A real Hydra agent would have fired- comrade be damned.

He turned his attention to where Sam was and saw only the dead wings. Stumbling and half-bent in pain still, Sam tackled him from the side and swept his legs out from under him. The Ice-Man went down hard. He grabbed Sam by the throat as the other tried to get to his feet- but with the wrong arm. Sam shoved back and kicked at the man's blue hand. He tried to shoot a beam at Sam's foot, but the power failed him. Spikes drove through his hand from Sam's shoe and the man screamed. Ice shot out from beneath him in all directions and Sam's other foot was frozen to the ground instantly.

Natasha was in the process of getting her feet under her when the ice hit and locked one hand and one foot to the ground. Her gloves _barely_ protected the skin. She gasped at the sudden pain and kicked at the Clint-Clone- frozen with his back end still on the brittle grass. He took the hit to the stomach (sadly from the blade-less side of the boot) and swung his arrow at Natasha's throat. She threw her body to the side and felt two _pops_ as her shoulder and knee dislocated. The effect was worth it though- she broke from the new ice and flew across the snow. Natasha half-stood and then slammed onto her back, popping her shoulder back into place. She allowed just one scream, then grabbed her knee and relocated it as well.

Facing the Clint-Clone once again she charged- ignoring the shooting pains in her leg and the instability in her knee. Before she got to him something shot out from behind a tree- directly for Sam.

"LOOK OUT!" he dove to the side as best he could- and the shadowy wolf just barely missed taking off his head. Natasha wheeled around and looked up. When she gasped, her breath was ragged with fear and worry.

Avengers Tower was dark.

* * *

**Avengers Tower**

"Stop!" Clint saw what he was waiting for, Thor had been very close. The video kept playing. Clint hit the screen, but the pause button wouldn't come up, "JARVIS, stop it! Wait! Rewind!" he put a hand on his throat and felt nothing. Clint growled- there, the vibration, he tried again, "STOP PLAYBACK!"

He was frustrated and trying to speak quickly without monitoring how he formed the words. He could tell just from the feeling in his mouth that he'd probably said something more like "Awob baai-pak," but JARVIS understood him. The video began to rewind. Clint called (in a much clearer voice) for him to stop when it got to the part Bucky had described.

_Bucky was running through the halls with her in his arms. _The video switched between cameras as he ran out of their range. _He got to a corner and stopped abruptly- he'd heard the soldiers. Bucky set Inessa down, _in front of him, Clint noted. _His body partially blocked her from camera, but he set her upright and carefully leaned her against the wall._ On the tablet the video wasn't large enough for precise detail, and the hallway wasn't the most well-lit place. Clint zoomed in on Inessa and tried to distinguish her from the cement. "Increase contrast" he said very slowly. The shading warped and he got a clearer outline of the girl and Bucky's legs.

The soldiers rounded the corner and she abruptly vanished. It looked like a glitch in the tape- but one moment the white outline of her body was mostly blocked by Bucky's legs, the next it was Bucky blocked by Inessa. He doubted he'd be able to see the change without the contrast. "Replay, no contrast." JARVIS played the video as he was told. Just as Clint suspected- the plain video was too dark to see the move. But-

"Half contrast, replay," he zoomed in on her again, "Slow," the video played at half-speed. Bucky set Inessa down. He leaned her against the wall so she was propped on her right shoulder- she vanished for only three frames, less than a fraction of a second, then she was behind him, laying on the floor with her feet pointed to the wall. Her right arm was now against the floor, and she held Bucky's leg with her left arm. So he was right about the teleportation? Something _still_ wasn't right.

He felt a creeping sensation on the back of his neck and abruptly dropped the tablet. He pulled a long knife from his belt and breathed slowly. Hearing would have helped, but Clint felt the subtle vibrations in the hardwood with his bare feet. He lowered his chin slightly, squared his shoulders, and turned around.

Natasha was behind him- battered and beaten. She was speaking quickly, gesturing desperately at something outside. _Slow down!_ Clint moved the knife to his left hand and signed back at her, _Can't hear, remember_?

She looked confused, "What the fuck? Stop screwing around and talk to me!" Clint read her lips.

Then he threw the knife.

She slapped her hands together and caught the blade between her gloves. Natasha smiled and dissipated as if she were made of mist. A thin man stood in her place- Dennisson's man who installed the Devices. Clint pulled another knife from his belt and put Inessa behind him. Thanks to Steve's not-so-fucking-stupid plan (which he would never admit to Cap's face had actually turned out to be a good idea) the Avenger watching Inessa was one best poised to tell a fake Natasha from a real one. And the only one Tyson couldn't talk into committing suicide.

"This will be fun," he read Tyson's lips as the other shifted the blade into his right hand.

Clint could tell he didn't know sign language- it was what gave his "Natasha" away- so he gave Tyson the simplest gesture he knew- this one only required one finger.

* * *

**Tony and Banner: Washington Square**

"Don't change, don't change, don't change, don't change," Banner was green and barely holding on to his form. Considering he was latched on to Tony's foot (it seemed like a good idea when they saw Sam and Natasha take off), he very much preferred to NOT find himself suddenly carrying the Hulk. The Suit couldn't handle that kind of weight.

They were high up- well hidden in the darkness of the night sky. Washington Square was swarming with Hydra agents- but one stood alone in the middle of the blown-out fountain. The other agents were grabbing anyone they found, making them kneel, then shooting them point-blank. Carnage- that was Dennisson's plan. Tony's blood boiled.

"Drop. Me. From. Here." Banner's voice was strained over Tony's comm.

"Can you survive the fall? I can drop you closer?"

"HERE!" he shouted and closed his eyes, trying to maintain control.

Tony began lowering himself anyways, "There's someone in the middle- Hydra's giving her a wide birth so I'm betting she's someone nasty. Can you take care of the civilians and the soldiers while I go after her?"

"Don't worry," Banner released his control and began to change in earnest, "Hulk smash bad ants only." he let go and Tony shot down after him, then veered off at the last second towards the woman.

Hulk landed fully-formed in the grass next to the large square and left an impressive crater. He immediately charged for the black-clad humans, leaving the others to run away in terror.

Tony, meanwhile, charged the redhead in the center of the swarm. She snarled and launched a fireball at his head, "WOAH!" he veered to the side, "JARVIS, what temp did that hit?"

"Hot enough to melt the suit to your skin," Tony made a mental note to tune down the extra-cheery setting, it made JARVIS sound vaguely sadistic.

"I want partial auto-pilot. Use the sensors, if she's heating up to throw another ball, estimate trajectory and get me the hell out of the way if I don't move fast enough."

"Yes, Master Stark." The padding inside the Suit expanded slightly to hold his limbs a bit tighter. He could still move, but if it had to it could move him as well.

He began a wide loop around the girl and spiraled inward. Tony focused only on her- always just in the right side of his vision. He ignored the swirling around her and the nausea building in his stomach. She threw fireball after fireball, but he moved too fast for them to find their target. Instead, the buildings around the square were peppered with incineration-level fire. The stone facade took most of the hits, but he had to do something to stop her- preferably _before_ anyone was hurt.

The g-forces working against his Suit made it difficult- but Tony shut off the rockets in one hand, steadied himself, and fired a pulse directly at her chest. The blast blew him backwards out of control and he slammed into the bell tower of a nearby church. Dazed, Tony turned back to the fray, "JARVIS, tune down the other life signs, show me where she is!"

She was standing up on the far side of the park. Her armor had taken the brunt of his hit. She was very much alive, and extremely pissed. Tony launched directly at her and fired several choice pieces from his arsenal. She responded with fire-bomb after fire-bomb, detonating all of his missiles before they had a chance to do any kind of harm. That was the idea. He shot through the smoke and grabbed the arm she threw fire from. The Suit responded to the building heat and, as he wrenched it to one side to deflect the blast, the Suit tried to take off. The next thing Tony knew he was spiraling several feet over the Square with her arm in his hand- but not the rest of her.

"I think I diffused their-" the suit jerked to the side as a column of fire erupted from the ground. Tony spun and scanned the source- it was shooting out of her severed arm. She was screaming, turning away from the conflagration. "HULK, DUCK!" Tony shouted as the girl turned and vaporized half the crowd- not all of them Hydra. He shot to the ground and began scanning for Hulk's location.

Something slammed into his back and the suit crashed into the pavement. Tony was thrown about- he felt the mechanics inside the mask cutting his forehead_. _It happened every time he crashed. _Goddammit._ He groaned and lifted his head from the rubble to see what hit him- a black wolf.

The woman saw it through her crazed screaming and tried to direct the torrent of fire at it. Hulk appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Tony before the fire hit. It lit up the wolf and the snarling beast turned- half transparent. It lunged at her through the fire, clamped it's teeth around her head, and in one savage motion smashed her skull between it's jaws. Before the fire had even died down it dove at Tony and Hulk.

"JARVIS! What's the status of the Tower?" no response.

Hulk grabbed the idiot human who wasn't paying attention and threw him at a tree to keep him out of the way. He tried to punch the wolf in the darkness, but the blow wouldn't land. Just like inside the Tower. He turned and roared a challenge at the beast. It landed on a Hydra soldier near where Tony had been. The force of the landing sent the wolf's claws through the man's chest. He died screaming. The wolf turned and ran again at Hulk.

Tony looked up at the Tower and felt his heart sink in his chest- it was pitch black.

* * *

**Avengers Tower**

Clint let Tyson play offense.

The man lunged at him with his mouth open (presumably shouting). Clint brought his knife up and blocked the initial blow- but then it got difficult. Tyson was trying to force him to turn, to lose both ground and his position in front of Inessa. There was only one person in that apartment Dennisson was fixated on killing, and Clint wasn't going to give him the satisfaction.

Tyson brought his knife around towards the side of Clint's ribs. It was an exceptionally hard move to block. Clint grabbed Tyson's left arm with his and tried to force the blade to slice wide, then drew his right arm up to intercept the strike. It nicked his hand, but otherwise left him undamaged. Clint planted a foot between him and his enemy and shoved him back towards the door.

The move threw Tyson off balance for a few seconds, but Clint didn't follow through with the attack. He held his ground and spared only a fast glance at Inessa to make sure she hadn't moved- as if she ever did. Tyson tried to circle Clint. He side-stepped to maintain the line. He tried circling the other way- again Clint blocked him. "This isn't a ballet," he said slowly, carefully, "stop dancing around."

Tyson's empty hand flicked behind him for a second and Clint ducked. The throwing knife hit the reinforced window and took a chunk out of it, but otherwise did no harm. Tyson took the opportunity to throw three more knives in quick succession. It forced Clint to the side and away from Inessa- if Tyson was throwing things he had to keep their trajectory away from her.

He lost the ground he'd been trying to keep. Tyson lunged at him again and renewed his attack in earnest. He pressed himself at Clint until the other was forced to step around in order to have adequate room to defend himself. Rather than going after Inessa, he pushed his advantage and swung wildly with one arm while punching Clint in the stomach with the other. The air was forced out of Clint's lungs, his next strike landed too softly, and Tyson blocked it with his forearm. _This is why I prefer arrows _he thought a second before a cold shiver ran through his knife-arm.

Clint felt an odd chill, and a bone-deep soreness he couldn't place at first. While his armpit felt cold, his side beneath it trickled with warmth. He looked down, dazed, and Tyson pulled the knife from his underarm.

Running beneath the skin of the underarm is the brachial artery. One that- if severed- can kill a full grown man within fifteen seconds.

Dazed, Clint dropped his knife. Tyson stepped back, grinning like a banshee, and Clint's arm fell. He grabbed it with his former knife-hand and held it against his side as tightly as he could- but the cold was spreading. Tyson pulled back his foot and kicked Clint in the chest as hard as he could, launching the Avenger back against the wall. Clint hit hard and slid to the floor. His vision was fuzzy, his head was spinning.

_It takes out anyone around her first_. The thought floated around for a moment before he grasped it. As if it could sense his thoughts, Clint finally noticed the chill that had nothing to do with blood loss. He thought he heard a growl. Tyson turned towards Inessa as Clint struggled to his knees. He abandoned his arm and tried to reach for the switch- but his hand fell short. He was backed up against a table and couldn't get over it.

There was something on the table- something golden and magical and important, but he couldn't think what. Clint grabbed it and swung at the switch again. In stretching for it, his bleeding arm raised slightly and fresh, hot blood splattered his face. He fumbled with the golden thing and swung it again- dragging it against the wall as he slid down. He dropped the band and it slid up his bad arm halfway, but it did the trick.

_It will clear the path before it tries to take her_.

The lights in the Tower went out.

_Just a few seconds,_ he fought to stay awake. There was something tight on his arm. Clint shoved it up towards the cut and kept pressure on it, _he's the biggest threat. It will kill him first. Just a few... seconds..._

* * *

**Bucky and Steve: New York Supreme Court**

They landed on the steps of what used to be the government building. Now it was a burning pile of rubble. The Suits that had flown them over took off to patrol the city.

Steve looked at the vast, empty square in front of them. Hydra soldiers flipped cars out of the street and shoved them away from the building to form a barricade of the area. They were climbing _over_ the cars though, away from the Avengers and the man standing in the middle of the road- Dennisson.

Bucky stretched in his suit- it looked just like Steve's, only the colors were flipped. The star in the center of his chest was red, and his metal arm was completely exposed. It would hinder his movements more than the armor he'd worn as Hydra's Winter Soldier, but not by much, and the protection it offered was far superior. He had his preferred weapon- a long blade. Steve held the shield in one hand and a gun in the other.

There was no speaking. The enemies faced one another and waited for someone to make a move. Steve decided to break the standoff with a gunshot.

It hit Dennisson in the arm, but he didn't seem to notice. He and Bucky charged at each other. Dennisson swung up at Bucky's stomach. The Winter Soldier chose to take the punch- ever since Steve had found him in Red Skull's base- that first time he was captured- he could take a hit pretty easily, as Dennisson was well aware after _days_ of torture.

But this hit was different. He struck Bucky like a hammer and lifted him off the ground. Bucky bit the end of his tongue unintentionally and tasted blood. He was thrown several feet to land on his back on the pavement. Dennisson laughed, "You caught me," he smiled, "I was holding back before."

Steve ran at him, firing. The bullets struck his Kevlar and he barely registered them. It was almost like he was- not possible. The bullets ran out and Steve swung his shield down on Dennisson's head. His target dropped and swept his legs out from underneath him. Bucky jumped on his back and tried to wrap his metal arm around Dennisson's throat. He grabbed it in his bare hands and pried it away, then threw Bucky into Steve.

They landed in a heap a few feet away, "He's a super soldier," Steve panted.

"You think?" the sarcasm was unnecessary.

"How?"

"It's gotta be recent." Dennisson waited for them to attack again, grinning. Bucky popped his neck and rolled his shoulders back, "Do you remember Bobby Iverson?"

Steve glanced over at him, incredulous, "The little German kid I tried to beat up when I was eight?"

Bucky nodded, not taking his eyes from Dennisson, "He called me a 'Mick' and you tackled him."

"You had to pull him off me, then I had to pull you off him."

"Good, then you remember how it worked," he broke eye contact with Dennisson momentarily to grin at Steve.

Steve thought of an expression Tony liked to use, "Let's Bobby Iverson this bitch."

"You killed the moment," Bucky deadpanned, then winked and the two attacked.

Bucky dove at Dennisson's chest while Steve dropped to the ground in a slide and knocked his legs out from under him. Bucky straddled Dennisson's chest and slammed his metal hand into the enemy's head over and over. Dennisson grabbed his fist on the fifth hit and twisted it to the side, dislodging the Winter Soldier. Steve was trying to pin his feet, and he slammed his heel into the Avenger's nose. Before they could regroup, he scrambled backwards. A Hydra agent dislodged himself from the shadows and ran at Dennisson. He grabbed the back of his neck and a second later the enemy was standing up- his wounds gone.

Steve cursed, holding his nose, "He's screwing with us!"

"Kill the healer!" Bucky ordered and dove at Dennisson once again, knife in hand this time.

Dennisson blocked the initial hit, but he was no match for the Winter Soldier in a knife-fight. As quickly as he moved with his new super-soldier abilities, Bucky moved faster. The watered-down serum had it's benefits. Less strength, but twice the speed. Bucky backed him into a wall and brought the knife down in an arc- aiming for Dennisson's head. His enemy slammed his head forward into Bucky's and he staggered back, dazed.

"You were always the weakest of Hydra's heads," Dennisson spat a wad of blood out the side of his mouth. He made a show of pushing himself off of the building wall and glanced over at his healer- he hadn't even seen Steve sever his head with the shield, "You should have been cut off years ago."

"By your rules, wouldn't two more just have taken my place?" Bucky sneered. Steve carefully walked around to stand next to his friend. He didn't trust how quickly this battle was ending. Dennisson staggered towards them. They didn't see him pull the weapon out of the back of his vest.

Dennisson smiled, "Do you know how Hercules killed the Hydra?" he was panting from trying to keep up with Bucky. Dennisson didn't wait for a reply, he answered his own question, "He had a servant cauterize the stump before the new heads could grow."

"We'll remember that when you're dead," Bucky swung back with his metal arm and lunged at Dennisson. He pulled the device out- an elongated silver box.

Steve was closer to Dennisson, and he remembered that thing- one of Red Skull's tesseract weapons. "BUCKY!" He dove in front of his friend, shield up. The blast hit it dead-on and the shield shot back with such force the edge smashed into Steve's throat, choking him. He hit Bucky at an angle and the two went flying in different directions. Dennisson laughed gleefully. The beam stopped and he closed the head of it to re-build the charge. Steve slammed into the rubble of the senate building head-first. His own shield dragged him across the jagged stone before it was embedded in the middle of some beam.

Bucky, meanwhile, was thrown into part of a still-standing column. He blasted through it and flipped horizontally several times before coming to a stop on the far side of the street. He choked on dust and rock and gasped for air. His chest burned, his extremities tingled as if they'd been subjected to an electric shock. He opened his eyes weakly and saw a red path traced in the rubble where Steve had vanished. Dennisson walked over easily. He'd exaggerated his condition. Bucky wasn't a threat anymore- not even close. He couldn't even move enough to sit up. Captain America though- Steve managed to pull his shield out of the beam and was staggering out of the rubble. He pulled off his hood and wiped the blood from his eyes, ready to stand against the enemy. Dennisson raised the weapon again and Steve braced himself. When he let the energy fly, Steve met it with his shield.

Bucky had to look away, the energy arching from it was too bright. He looked up at the skyline above just in time to see Avengers Tower go dark.

* * *

**Avengers Tower**

Tyson didn't care that the lights went out. He had his orders. He took his time getting to Inessa- if the other guy was still alive he could bask in the knowledge that his charge was going to die, and there was nothing he could do about it.

A small light remained between him an Inessa- Clint's tablet. It cast a dramatic glow over him as he advanced, knife out and still dripping. Tyson imagined he looked like the villain from a kids story with a flashlight under his chin. Soon enough he was in front of Inessa. His shadow stretched behind him and splashed across the ceiling. Something glinted off a dead light bulb back in the kitchen- something silver. A second appeared.

"I'm doing you a favor, kid," he raised the knife, stepped forward-

Four long, black talons stuck out of his chest and held him in place. He tried to breathe in, but couldn't. Silver dripped from their tips mixed with his own red blood. There was a colossal roar from behind him and Tyson was flung aside- into the reinforced glass. He hit it with impossible force, broke through it, and tumbled out into the darkness.

_Now_, Clint felt the Shadow's roar, even if he couldn't hear it. He tried to reach up to hit the switch- where was the thing he'd been holding? His body was so cold. _Now_, he tried to speak, tell JARVIS to turn the lights on, but he couldn't tell if he was speaking aloud, let alone clear enough for JARVIS to understand the command. He tried again and again as the Shadow's form solidified. It wasn't coming after him- it was going after Inessa. She sat there blank, unaware of the deadly creature that approached. _Now, now, NOW, NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW!_

The Shadow reached out a talon. Clint must have spoken, because the lights faded up abruptly- just in time for him to see the Shadow touch the side of Inessa's head. It began to dissolve into black smoke that flooded into her mouth and eyes. The Shadow threw back it's head and roared. Her body tensed, mouth open. She was screaming too. Black fog began to roll from her skin as the Shadow shrank.

It didn't dissolve completely into Inessa. The creature grew smaller, more defined. It's hind legs shortened and solidified, the flat, terrifying grin elongated into a muzzle, the ears pushed out. Even it's talons shrunk. Inessa's head rolled forward. Silver burned in her eyes. With halting, strangled movements she came over to Clint, grabbed his outstretched, and flipped the switch back to the 'off' position.

She pulled him into the shadows, flanked now by an entire pack of black wolves.

Clint thought of the security video as he faded into unconsciousness. _The hallway wasn't the most well-lit place_. It was downright dark. When Bucky put Inessa down, he couldn't see her anymore, not until he increased the contrast. It was_ too _dark. Something clicked. He looked up as best he could. '_Project: Echo'. Echo. _His slowing mind remembered a fairy tale from his childhood. One his mother read to him from her faded book of mythology.

_Echo. The girl who turned into a Shadow._


	39. Chapter 38

**Hydra Facility Astana - Kazakhstan **

Nikolai felt like his world was spinning out of control. First Emilie, now Anton... They brought his brother's body back with them. Nikolai had asked the Agents to bring him- Anton shouldn't have been left alone after... Evidently he was right. Just too slow.

Anton had always been softer than Emilie. He felt more- but that was in part due to Emilie's involvement with so many human experiments, she was numb to most things. If the roles had been reversed, Nikolai didn't doubt Emilie would have lived on. Heartbroken, yes, but she would have lived. She'd changed since she found out about the baby, though. Now she lit up like nothing else- well. Not now. They'd been so excited, but so secretive. The nursery wasn't even ready, and only a few weeks until the due date. All the boxes of baby supplies and furniture were stored in Nikolai's house- he had few enough friends over there was little risk of Emilie's secret getting out. If it did, she'd lose Project Helius, and they were so close to the first rounds of testing.

Nikolai could only stare at his brother's body. His best friend, his only family. If he'd known- if Nikolai had gotten word to him sooner- would he have killed himself? Of course not. He'd have something to live for. Something worth more than just a brother.

"You have to shut it out," Emilie had told him as he patched up some tortured enemy agent his first week, "Focus on your job. Not what happened to him, not what will happen. See something to fix? Fix it." without her advice he wouldn't have made it in Astana. But he couldn't fix her, or Anton. All he could do was leave.

Before she died, Emilie asked him just one favor- deliver the baby so it could be buried next to her, between the plots she and Anton owned in Berezniki. At some point, while Nikolai worked in secret, Anton had been told of Emilie's passing. The last thing he expected was Anton's suicide.

Or the baby's survival.

She was perfect- ten fingers, ten toes, and no sign of the catastrophic radiation that killed her mother. It was a miracle. Nikolai held her for a long time before he leaned out of the autopsy room to tell the guards to fetch his brother. Too long.

As soon as the knock on the door came, he hid the infant, prayed she'd sleep, and threw a sheet over Emilie. What expected was his brother. What he got was a corpse.

Nikolai left that night. Hydra would handle sending the bodies to Russia- Nikolai was supposed to sign them in at the funeral home. He was released on two months sympathy leave. They'd honored Emilie's life insurance- even Anton's, though suicide technically negated the policy. Between the two Nikolai cashed out more than what he'd need to make them disappear.

His name became Dimitri Aristov. The girl he bought a birth certificate for in Chicago as soon as they arrived. Anton had always loved the name Nadya, so that's who she would be.

When little Nadya was only 5 years old the first creature appeared. At least, that he knew of. He walked into her bedroom after she was supposed to be asleep to investigate giggling and found her wrapped in a pulsating, formless black mass. Her eyes were different- their natural dark brown was gone, replaced by a decidedly silver iris.

Dimitri thought she was being attacked. He shouted for her to run, turned on the lights, and it vanished. Nadya burst into tears and by the next evening Dimitri had motion sensing lights installed. It was hell for her, he knew, but he was terrified. She'd learn to sleep still enough to not trip the lights, and the creature would be kept back.

Eventually Nadya broke the lights. The next time he checked on her the _thing_ was back. She cried, begged, threatened to hold her breath until she turned blue, and Dimitri installed more lights, higher up. After that he'd find her under the bed or in the closet- anywhere she could find darkness. It wasn't until she opened the portal that he finally consented to remove the lights and allow her her _pet_.

It was storming out. The lightning and thunder reached particularly frightening levels, and he went to check on Nadya. He looked under the bed with no luck, then stuck his head in the closet.

He was looking into a valley- gray, dead. The ground was covered in sharp stones that rolled and twisted along with the howling winds. There were shadows everywhere- buildings were molded from them. Nadya sat only a few feet away with her shadow-beast, now decidedly canine in form. She was talking to it, petting it on the head. Dimitri called out to her, promised he'd remove the lights, push back her bed time, anything- she just had to come out of that horrible place. Nadya returned and he kept his promise, but his fears only increased. The older she got, the more her abilities grew, the more Dimitri turned to alcohol. At first it gave him courage- just a little whenever that _thing_ was around, then to quiet the voices in his head telling him the kid would be better off with Hydra... He started to resent his niece, and was not shy in showing it. He lost his brother. He got a monster. She was six the first time he used his pet name for her- little bitch. That- more than the torturous lights, more than the dark glares and muttered curses made her grow to hate him.

Nadya had strange dreams every few weeks. She'd see dark halls filled with wicked people doing terrible things- sometimes to other people. In her dreams they'd occasionally see her watching. She'd strike out and sweep them away with long claws dripping silver poison. When she'd wake it would be to the nuzzling of her dark friend, always there when she was afraid.

* * *

They didn't live in the nice apartment anymore- they'd had to leave when Uncle Dimitri couldn't pay. He spent almost everything on booze these days. If Nadya intercepted the welfare check and hid a bit, they'd have food for the next two weeks (though then he'd call her a _thieving_ little bitch). If not, it was the soup kitchen and food pantry. In the winter she half-lived in the public library, mostly for the heat.

No one could know how poor they were- no one. Not even Mallory, Nadya's best friend and the only other person in the world who knew what she could do. If the dreaded Child Services people took her away to live elsewhere, her secret would surely get out. She'd lost control over the last couple years. The draw was too strong. Now she had a strict policy- only walk through the shadows during the day, there were fewer and she could find the exit from the Valley more easily. At night it was overwhelming, so she summoned the wolf if she needed an escort- and hoped the darker, wilder creatures didn't come with her.

But Nadya slipped still. At night she'd wake to get a drink only to find herself in the Valley. Or she'd daydream in class and the wolf's growl would sound throughout the school ventilation systems- the only place dark enough for it to manifest. And now her eyes didn't turn back for hours after she used her abilities. Mallory feared one day her eyes would just stay silver.

No, it was safer to remain silent about the degree to which Dimitri's alcoholism had affected them and continue to work the various charities so no one saw the boney teen too often. Besides- hiding in the library had given Nadya quite the education- just 4 more years and she might make it to college on a scholarship. She could get a job, study, and one day even make enough to have one of those apartments you'd see on TV, or a home from a magazine.

Everything was pretty shitty for now, but her future would be bright, Nadya had no doubt of it.

* * *

Nadya left the library and precisely 9pm, closing time. On the front steps she pulled her arms into her thin sweater and shivered in the howling winter winds. A new moon was somewhere up there in the dark sky, but no worries. She knew the route home well enough, even in the dark.

A low growl seemed to come from behind her as she darted down the steps and around the library to the narrow alley on its southeast side. Nadya hesitated, nervous, but a moment later an old car drove by on the road with its engine grumbling and rattling in protest of the cold. She smiled and continued to the alley. For several blocks she ran down it- cutting across deserted streets and dodging piles of trash as the neighborhoods grew rougher and darker. The wind whipped away her body heat, adding urgency to her jog.

She went to the library because there was no heat at home, but this time Nadya had stayed too long. The air was sub-zero, and already her exposed skin was growing numb. Her nose and lungs burned, the thin arms wrapped around her torso held in no heat, and her teeth chattered violently and audibly, regardless of her efforts to stop them. Still, home wasn't too much further. Yes, she had to go to an even worse neighborhood yet, and yes it as likely just as cold in the condemned apartment building they squatted in, but at least it was out of the wind.

This neighborhood was full of thugs and creeps, though on a night like this she didn't expect to see any. Still, as she crossed to a narrow street on her right she couldn't ignore the tingle on the back of her neck that had nothing to do with impending frostbite. Her shoes _crunched_ on the thin layer of snow and ice covering everything, but every so often she'd hear a _crack_, two steps in the snow slightly out of sync. She glanced behind her- nothing, and no footprints besides her own extended back from where she'd come.

Nadya began walking again but this time changed her pace at random- faster, slower, faster, normal, faster- _there!_ A step totally out of sync with hers! Again she turned, her fight-or-flight instincts were kicking in. Again there was nothing.

It wasn't that she couldn't hold her own in a fight- she was a poor kid from the slums, of course she knew some moves. She was just too cold. Nadya couldn't focus, couldn't keep her thoughts from jumping all over the damn place, and certainly couldn't throw a decent punch when her shoulders were numb. A fight in this condition would end with her bloody in the gutter- or worse.

"I know you're there!" she shouted to the night, "It's only fair to warn you- back off or I'll-" she thought she heard a soft _click_ nearby, but before she could so much as pinpoint the direction of the noise a wave of pressure slammed into her. Her muscles locked, then began to spasm violently. She managed a strangled scream as she collapsed in the sow. After that noise she was lucky to even manage small gasps of breath. Her eyes were locked open through it all and while her body burned with pain, a small part of her mind tried to save her, to find some way out of this. Was it a tazer? She felt something itching, crawling at her ear. It dripped into the snow as she shook and convulsed- blood. Tazers didn't usually make you bleed out your ears.

Someone came towards her with slow, measured steps. No more hiding. She wanted to curse him, strike out, hurt him- anything! But for all her brave intentions, Nadya could still hardly breathe, let alone move. A hand entered her field of vision, then an arm. She couldn't look up to see his face, but she did see the syringe in his left hand. Surprisingly, she also felt it in her neck through the pain. As the world fell out of focus and went black she noticed something strange. Irrationally, her mind focused on that over the pain or fear about whatever these people might be drugging her _for_.

The man's left hand- was it made of metal?

* * *

She woke in a cell that was so bright it blinded her extra senses. There were chairs, books, a bed (which she was tucked into) and a small bathroom in the corner. A long mirror covered one wall. A fancy prison. But a prison.

A man stood next to the door. His eyes were locked, hard, soulless. Nadya thought something about him was familiar- like she'd seen him in one of her older nightmares about the evil men torturing the frightened soldier with the horrible machine. Either way, she knew that blank look in his eyes. The man had been hurt, badly. He'd been scooped out and this creature had grown in his place.

The other man lounged in a chair, flipping through a book, bored. When Nadya slowly sat up, he glanced over and immediately smiled. It was nice- charming, like he wanted to be her friend. Nadya trusted the hollow man more.

"Excellent, you're awake!" he came over and held out a hand for her to shake, "I'm Agent Thomas Dennison, Hydra welcome wagon."

The more he spoke, the less Nadya liked him, "Hydra? Like the evil monster from the labors of Hercules?"

"No," he corrected, "Hydra like the mythical creature killed by a man too ignorant to understand it's special peculiarities," he spoke to her like she was 8. Nadya gave him_ the look_.

"Special peculiarities? Like spitting acid, growing extra heads, eating people, and having poison blood? Sounds like a monster to me." His smile faltered for a second, and Nadya's suspicions were confirmed- this guy was a very dangerous man, and one not used to a smart-ass snapping at him. "Well? Let's have it- make your sales pitch." Mallory always believed one day some secret agency like the CIA would come after her if anyone found out what she could do. The truly impressive number of lights in the room suggested just that had happened.

She'd thrown Dennisson off, and it showed, but he recovered, "We want to help the world, that's all, and you could be a big part of that. It's chaos out there. Children go hungry, people get hurt. Hydra just wants to unify everyone to keep them safe. With your help, we can achieve incredible things."

"Wow," Nadya feigned interest, "you did a great job saying nothing."

"Ask me anything you'd like," Dennisson was confident.

"Your unified world, how many die to get it?"

"We only kill when absolutely necessary- like how sometimes the police have to kill a bad guy instead of bringing him in. After careful analysis and at least an offer of rehabilitation, or if our hand is forced, then we kill."

Bullshit, Nadya was willing to bet, "And what do you think my role will be?"

Dennisson smiled, "You would use your special gifts to watch the people we think may be working against us, and if you think they will get in our way, you tell us so we can speak with them and keep everyone they might hurt safe."

More bullshit. She decided to change aim, "And what did you do to him?" she nodded to the man by the door.

Dennisson acted as if he'd been insulted, "Nothing! He helps us of his own free will, just like you will one day. He just looks like that because he's shy. See?" he got up and crossed to where the man stood. He ripped off the left sleeve of the man's shirt, exposing a shining metal arm, "Bad men hurt him, threw him off a train no less. We found him with this arm torn clean off, fixed him up, helped him overcome who he was before. He helps us now, but he's still embarrassed by what the bad people did, so he looks like this pretty much all the time."

Nadya was silent for a bit. She couldn't shake the feeling something was going unsaid. "Tell it to me straight, Bucky Barnes," she quoted the old Captain America radio plays they'd listened to in her history class. Something flickered on the man's face- confusion, recognition maybe? It was gone in seconds. Dennisson looked tense.

"I will give you a couple days to think over things," he opened the door quickly and the man left.

"One more question," Nadya called as he stepped out. Dennisson smiled and stuck his head back in the room, "Why should I join?"

"You could make a good living, see the world, get away from your current conditions. Besides, your parents worked for us too. In this very room no less." he closed the door behind him with a smirk, leaving Nadya alone.

There was no way to mark time- the cell had no windows, and they never dimmed those damn lights. No way for Nadya to escape. All the books were for little kids- picture books. Fucking idiot, this Dennisson. And playing the parent card? Please. Dimitri told her her parents worked together, what did it matter to her if this was where they were? They were still dead.

After what felt like forever (probably just a few hours), someone with a silver hand slid a tray of food through a hatch in the door. Nadya glared at the mirror she was fairly positive her captors stood behind.

The meal consisted of a stale, colorless ham sandwich and a glass of juice. Nadya didn't trust these people, and she wasn't hungry enough to risk the food- yet. She sat on the bed with her back to the window and poked at the sandwich. It moved, and she saw the paper.

_Don't trust Dennisson._

As if she needed to be told. Nadya flushed the paper fairly quickly, then settled in for whatever the next days would bring.

* * *

When they came back the man with the metal arm looked awful. His face was still a mask, but she could see a tremor in his hand, and his eyes didn't quite follow Dennisson, they lagged behind as if he was seeing double. She'd seen a similar look in her uncle's eyes after he'd been drinking. Only this man was most certainly sober.

Nadya turned Dennisson down with a polite, "Thank you, but no. And go fuck yourself with a cactus." He gave her time to reconsider her position- now without food. In her dreams she saw the man strapped to a chair and tortured into submission. She saw guards in the halls. She struck at them, but the shadows never held substance, and as they starved her she lost the strength to lend to theirs so the strikes might land. She could feel her wolf nearby, but had no way to open the door.

Torture began the third time Nadya turned down Dennisson's offer. Her room became even more spartan. The bathroom folded into the wall and couldn't be removed, but everything else was taken. Her bed was replaced by the table. If she was left unstrapped, she slept on the floor. It started out as beatings, but the tortures became more pointed bit by bit. She could stomach the punches- even though the metal arm felt like a sledgehammer. Dimitri wasn't exactly a nice drunk, she could take a hit. The worst part, at least the worst up to that point, was when Dennisson had her toes broken one by one each time she said no. The aching kept her awake when the men left. Lack of sleep made her mind slow, pain made her forget what she was even resisting. Her head hurt.

The man tried to show her kindness a few times, and when Dennisson noticed she learned exactly what kept him complacent. Nadya didn't know how she was holding on. One day she locked onto the things that mattered the most- never obey. Never break the connection to the shadows. She repeated them like a mantra, forcing back all other thoughts.

* * *

"Do you know the story of the Nymph Echo?" Dennisson asked one day.

Nadya couldn't answer. She was shaking, whimpering- he'd brought in a kettle of bubbling water and a funnel. Her eyes were glued on them, sitting on the edge of the table.

"Once upon a time there was a young Nymph named Echo. She was a spy of sorts for the god Zeus. Whenever his wife was close to finding him with his whore-of-the-week, Echo would tell her a long, pointless story, distract her, and he'd slip away with the girl. Well, one day Hera, the wife, realized what the little bitch was doing and cursed her. Instead of speaking about whatever came to mind, Echo could only repeat the words of others. She withered away to nothing, became a shadow who existed only to repeat the secrets of others."

He patted Nadya's leg and she jumped, "That's all we want from you. Just become our little Echo. Walk in the shadows. Tell us what our enemies say. You would be very helpful, and the pain would stop."

The metal-armed man, ever present, locked eyes with her. There was something there- fear. He wanted her to give in, desperately. _Never obey_.

Nadya turned away from Dennisson. She could try to bury herself in whatever thin veil of power she could manage, but it was never strong enough to block out the pain. Especially not this time- when the man put the funnel in her mouth and began pouring the water.

* * *

She thought at some point you'd go numb- like your body could only feel so much pain. But she was wrong. Her mouth, throat, and chest were so raw she could barely breathe. her head swam with the drugs they pumped in to keep her alive.

Nadya felt something- someone was pulling at her straps. She couldn't process it, not even when they picked her up and carried her to the door. The hall, however, was like a balm.

Shadows washed over her, her senses opened wide. She could feel the shadows, maybe even tip through one. She felt her wolf close by. Nadya managed to open her eyes and saw who carried her. Who else? The metal-armed man. Dennisson would make him suffer for this.

He ran determined through the corridors, even when the alarms began to sound. He turned a corner and saw soldiers approaching. He set Nadya down, ready to protect her. She slumped against the wall. For a second she passed into the Valley, but she couldn't leave the man behind. Even after what he'd done to her, she'd seen what they did to him in turn. She couldn't leave without him. She tipped back into the hall, just behind him, grabbed his pant leg.

Lights flooded the halls. They were swarmed from both sides. Nadya lost her chance. She faded as the soldiers wrestled the man to the ground. Next thing she knew she was being thrown onto the floor back in her cell. Dennisson came in, followed by two men rolling that horrific chair her would-be-savior was already strapped into. "You know, you don't scare me," she whispered through the agony of her throat. The metal-man screamed into his muzzle, tried to break free. Dennisson grabbed the back of Nadya's head and forced her to look the man in the eyes. She shivered at his touch.

"I don't want to scare you," he lied, "I want to give you the chance to take real control here."

"Just because I'm 14 doesn't mean I'm stupid, I don't have any control," she flinched, expecting him to strike her himself.

Dennisson moved his hand to her shoulder and handed her the remote. She'd seen him use it before to activate the machine, "You have control. _You_ can make _him_ suffer now. That's control."

_Never obey_.

She threw the remote on the ground. Dennisson's eyes darkened, "So be it." He retrieved it and pressed the button. Two panels lowered and covered most of the man's face. Only one eyes was visible. Electricity arced, she smelled singed flesh, and the man started screaming.

Later, when he woke in the chair, Dennisson had him break her ribs and hang her from the ceiling. She had no friends here.

* * *

She let the torture rip pieces away. She forgot her name, her life in Chicago- even what the man who tortured her wanted. She only knew she couldn't. Sometimes the metal man went away on missions. When that happened- she didn't like when that happened, the guards did things she wanted to forget more than the other tortures. A few times he'd return, figure out what happened. Then he'd hang the guards from the ceiling and carve into them until their screams stopped and their bodies grew cold. More often than not they'd be found in the halls though, mangled by the beasts in the shadows. Any time they could break through from that realm they did, but the pack never bagged the true prize- Dennisson.

Eventually she lost even the memory of her resistance. Dennisson was gone, and the man proved a bit more alive than his master thought. It had been too long- years? Echo didn't know what she was holding out from, or why. She only wanted to die. He offered her rest- a few hours of sweet darkness. She swore to do whatever he asked. She even meant it this time.

As soon as the lights shut off she saw the wolf, sensed the Valley. Her abilities had grown weak, but she reached out to it as she had since- since when? She saw herself through it's eyes. A broken, frail, crazed little creature. A shadow of its former master. Echo reached out with the wolf's claws and saw them extended, more like fingers or talons. She tried to pull out the wretches tongue, rip apart its jaws as she'd seen it do to the guards in the halls.

The power was inconsistent- the talons pierced the flesh, flooded the body with it's venom, but couldn't kill her. The nameless child. She screamed in frustration, despair, anger, pain- and the wolf roared with her. The man ran in, the lights turned on. She felt herself falling back to the pain and fear, the nightmare corpse she'd been trapped in. She could see through four eyes for a moment- the human in the cell, the beast in the shadows. She ripped away, chose the beast over the hollow child. Her form fuzed with the wolf, changed it into something not quite human and not quite beast. Echo was finally free.

* * *

Without a body her powers faded. Her mind became bestial, all sense of humanity was lost. She couldn't even remember who or what she once was. She kept trying to kill the child- a mercy. She managed to scratch the cub once again, but not enough poison filled her veins. They had it taken away, imprisoned in a bright tube. Frozen. The Shadow had to kill the human, but how to find it again?Even the silver scars that were like a tether to her were being blocked by ice and concrete. The hollow man remained. The metal one. The Shadow entered his mind, left a piece of itself embedded there. Every time he crossed through the darkness it watched him, protected him. All the while it whispered Echo's name. Prompted him to find her.

One day the man walked through the shadows and something was changed. Memories swirled through his mind, more than ever before. It didn't let him become distracted by the fleeting glimpses of some childhood friend. It reminded him always of the Echo-child. _Lead me to her_, it whispered, _let me kill it_.

The Shadow was close to its goal, the man was on the hunt, but then he was taken. Strange people gathered around him- made him remember who he was. The Shadow felt something- pain? Not quite. Regret? Loneliness? These people were preventing the man from leading it to the child. He needed to remember his mission.

It was curious though. The Shadow looked closely at the humans, nearly touched one. That human saw it, and the accursed lights came on. Just like the lights in that _place_. Just like when- a memory surged of a time when the Shadow had form. It shoved the sensation down before it could remember pain. When one of the humans left the rest of the pack the Shadow lashed out and destroyed the power cables running through the oh-so-dark walls. It lured him in, subdued him, crawled through his mind. It read his memories. He gleaned some of its.

Then they led it straight to Echo. The Shadow pulled the child to the door of the Valley, and that man came along. The Shadow watched them. It felt- hope? Then it remembered it's mission, kill. He pulled the child out before its strike landed.

They healed the wretch's body just as they had her tormentor. The sense of regret, of loss, grew in the Shadow. The other wolves faded away. It had a pack once. It- it was human once. It went after the others- the man who turned into a beast was difficult to subdue, but the metal man arrived, and the Shadow used all of it's power to harness the massive creature. It poured from his body into the man's- Bucky. Did either of them mean the child harm?

No.

A schism began to form between the wolf and the human. The wolf cried out, and it's pack returned to serve their mistress. She recognized her body, knew that horrible memories waited for her inside it. The Shadow couldn't return. It had a chance to escape into the darkness once before, hesitation cost her her mind. She couldn't risk making the same mistake again, not unless she knew it was safe.

When darkness fell throughout the tower, the wolves attacked. They used their venom to mark the remaining humans. She saw her body, sitting alone in the dark. It entranced her, drew her on. Without her control the wolves tore at the humans, nearly killed them. As she reached out she could feel the memories waiting for her- flashes of torture and screaming blurred her vision. Before she could touch the body, the one called Bucky had grabbed it and thrown himself out of a window. She dove after it- tried desperately to grab on to her form, but the winged man was strong, and the break between herself and the wolf was sapping her strength. Before the flying man crashed into the tower, the Shadow faded into nothing.

* * *

_Dennisson_. His stench stirred the Shadow in the Valley. It looked through the darkness and saw him leering over Bucky. He inflicted pain with fists and knives and chemicals- and the Shadow felt sympathy stirring. She could sense her connection to Echo- like a constant ache in her heart. The wolf's poison had dulled it for so long- but now she was beginning to feel _human_.

Impulsively, the Shadow reached out into the cell and tried to lift the man, but it was far too weak. It drew on what little energy it could and slowly pulled him through the void into the Valley- then deposited him far from his enemies. The metal pin in his head emitted a screech that hurt its ears, so the Shadow reached down with its talons and carefully pried it from his skull. Once the connection to him was broken, it was silent at last.

The Shadow faded back into the darkness, content to wait until it had enough strength to retake Echo.

* * *

Someone was in the Tower. The Shadow sensed something, jerked from it's haze, and surveyed the scene from the darkness outside. It growled and waited. One of the humans was guarding Echo, but the others were gone, fighting battles only some would survive. Dennisson was out there, and it longed to find him in the shadows of the city streets and rip him apart- but it couldn't abandon its body.

One who reeked of Dennisson's base attacked the human. The two slashed at one another- completely focused on their battle until the intruder sliced through the man's arm and threw him at the wall. He struggled there for a moment, then the Tower went dark.

The Shadow slipped in silently behind the other man. It felt that draw again from the body- bloody memories long forgotten, waiting to pounce. Waiting to destroy it's mind once again. But that wasn't it's concern. This man was. He stepped forward to kill the body and the Shadow lashed out, skewered him and threw him out into the night. The lights came on, but the man and his weak words were too late to do any harm.

It reached out to the child, pulled away from the wolf who had shared its form with the human for so long, and Nadya Ryker returned home at last.


	40. Chapter 39

**Thor: Bryant Park**

The impossibly fast man managed to doge Thor's attack, but side-stepped right into the path of a shadowy creature. He took one look at it and tried to run away- his legs made it further than the rest of him before his body realized it had been split in two.

Thor was protected from most of the blast by his armor, though heat scorched the flesh on his face. He was blasted backwards into the side of a building instead. Thor closed his eyes and braced for the hard impact. He felt a swirling of wind around him, a second of utter silence, then he connected with something very large, very green, and _very_ angry.

**Tony and Hulk: Washington Square**

Hulk watched the beast carefully, ready to fight when it attacked. Maybe this time, in the shadows of the park, it would let him hit it. He snarled, and it looked away. The wolf charged a Hydra agent burned by the eruption of their (literally) fiery commander as he struggled to his feet. Hulk ran at it, roaring, and was suddenly knocked over by something from behind. He fell face-first into the pavement and skid several feet. The fall ripped up the concrete- and pissed off the Hulk to no end.

He turned and picked up his attacker- that stupid, tiny God, and hurled him across the park for the impunity. Thor got his chance to crash into the side of a building after all.

**The Valley**

Inessa tried her best to force down the memories that threatened to overwhelm her. She wasn't quite human yet, and she had so much to do before she could surrender her fight.

For years the wolves of The Valley had been wild. When she was young, if she was afraid or sad, she lost control over the doors of the Valley and they would escape. She saw some of what they did to those who they found in the human world- she couldn't let that happen again. The wolf who shared its form with her, her lifelong friend, was their Alpha. Using it's influence, she had maintained some degree of control over them for 5 long years, but now that influence was fading. Fast. The wolves were used to going their own way, separate from their leader, but she needed them controlled, and to do that, she needed the memories blocked.

She pulled the God from his battle as soon as he crossed into shadows and sent him to the green monster and the man in the suit. The park was surrounded by innocent humans, ones running from igniting buildings, and they needed help containing Hydra's forces. The attention on the three caused her control to slip- and two wolves were let loose. Quickly, she set her focus on the nice woman and the man with the wings.

**Natasha and Sam: Battery Park**

The wolf turned to Sam and the Ice-Man next. Natasha held her breath. She couldn't make it to Sam before the wolf did, and she didn't have anything on her that could produce enough light in this shadowed park to even put a dent in it. Avengers Tower was dark Clint- she couldn't think about what might have happened to Clint. Or Inessa. She had to focus on the problem at hand.

Something exploded in the direction of the Senate House- something big. The explosion, and the rippling earthquake that spread from that, jolted the wolf into a run. Sam, frozen in place, threw himself backwards as the wolf pounced. He landed on top of the Ice-Man, but narrowly missed being skewered by the wolf. It growled and spun as it landed, ready for another attack. Sam scrambled to his feet- and accidentally kicked the man in the throat with his boot.

Blood began to spray and the man gargled. Sam froze, horrified. For a moment he forgot about the wolf, he just stared at the man. "Sam!"

There was a second explosion, this one stronger- much, much stronger, and much brighter. Something came crashing towards them- riding the front edge of the concussive wave that shattered glass throughout the south side. It erupted from the side of a building, broke through several trees, hit the ground just in front of Sam- and launched him into the air and out over the Hudson River.

Natasha covered her eyes as it flew past, then jumped up. She ran as fast as she could towards the bay- she had to find Sam! Natasha passed into the shadow of a tree and ran out next to Tony.

**Bucky and Steve: NYC Supreme Court**

Last time the shield had intercepted Dennisson's weapon at an angle. This time it was a direct hit. Steve held off as long as he could against the massive force pushing against him, but he was weak. He fell to his knees to conserve energy, but it was a lost cause if Bucky couldn't strike Dennisson while he was distracted. Steve didn't know Bucky was in worse shape than he was.

Steve had allowed the fight to turn against them, like an idiot. He thought they might be able to capture Dennisson, take him in. SHIELD could learn a lot from him, if they got him to talk. How many projects had this man been involved on? Echo was at least the fifth- how far down the alphabet did he go? Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo- what about the other four? What had Hydra done to them? They needed to know. Bucky had the right thought- he fought to kill, not to capture. Maybe that was what was needed here?

No way. The last time the Avengers were all together they'd fought off an entire army _and_ captured the leader. They had to do it again. It was the right thing to do.

But now Steve's life hinged on Bucky distracting Dennisson- and he knew his friend wouldn't pass up the chance to kill him. If he could move.

Something happened- the shield reflected the energy from the tesseract-weapon back into the main unit, and the entire thing exploded. Bucky looked back just as the weapon erupted- launching Steve and Dennisson backwards into rubble. The shield came flying at Bucky, passed through a shadow- and was gone.

**The Valley**

A wolf appeared as she followed a vein of silver to the pair on the far side of the city. It killed the enemy who attacked the man with the wings and the nice woman at her orders, but the taste of blood incensed it- drove it on and took it out of her control. Inessa couldn't call it back. It launched itself at the man, missed only by a hair as he dodged, and turned to attack again. Inessa felt something move through the shadows- the man's shield- the first person she had attacked, the friend of the one called Bucky.

Inessa redirected the shield through the Valley and into an empty building. She intended for the cement to slow it's force enough that it might hit the man with the wings, knock him out of the path of the wolf and into a shadow- but instead it hit him with incredible force. He was lifted up and thrown into the freezing waters of the bay. When the nice woman ran after him, Inessa pulled her through the Valley to the others.

The group was mostly together, the man was safe enough in the harbor for now, and what she had planned next would require every ounce of control and power she could muster. Inessa was losing pieces of her mind as the memories of torture bubbled to the surface. She didn't have time. She opened the door to where the others were and sent her wolf- dragging the archer's body.

Then she turned her sights on her torturer, Bucky, and stepped out of the shadows.

**Bucky and Steve: NYC Supreme Court**

He couldn't see what happened to Steve, or Dennisson. All he knew was that, suddenly, an eerie silence fell over the area. Bucky struggled to stand, but his body was too weak from the first blast. He managed to tip into a sitting position, still sagged against the flickering light. He looked around where he'd seen Steve last and saw a small cloud of fresh dust. He could hear Dennisson shifting in the brick west of his position.

There was a muted crunch- slow, deliberate. Bucky had heard that sound often enough as an assassin to understand it- bare feet on rocky debris. He turned his head as far to the left as he could, strained to see. Whoever it was, they walked past him slowly, breathing hard. From the breath he could tell it was a girl. When she passed far enough into his sight, his mouth fell open, "Inessa?"

Her eyes were silver, bright, alert. Black shadows rolled over her skin like wisps of steam. She was radiating them- he could hardly see the street behind her. Inessa wouldn't look at him, it was hard enough for her to maintain control once she saw the silver arm. She was half-cowering, shaking, blinking too fast and cognizant of the shifting debris as Dennisson struggled to stand. She was shaking, terrified. Bucky hadn't seen her like this since- since just before he turned out the lights back in Astana five years ago.

"S-s-s-s-," she stuttered terribly, unable to form the words. Too much pain. If she spoke, she would be beaten again, but she could help people, she had to help. She whimpered, closed her eyes, and grabbed her throat as if she could force the words out. She dug her fingernails into the skin- remembered what it felt like to try and rip out her own tongue. She wasn't _there. _She had succeeded, she'd been safe in the shadows, and she had returned. She had to remember that. "S-s-stay... i-i-in the-" she choked on the words, growled slightly, "_light_," she got it out at last, "Stay... in the light." she was panting, shaking, sweating.

Bucky nodded, dumbstruck. Inessa opened her mouth and tried to speak again, "O-o-oth-oth-" she couldn't. Not if she was going to carry out her plan.

He understood what she was trying to say, "The others too?" Inessa flinched violently at his voice, clamped a hand over her mouth, and nodded. He opened his comm and she walked away towards where Steve was. When she passed through the same shadow that had swallowed the shield, she vanished. A second later she was standing near the top of the rubble, near Steve. "Everyone? Can you hear me?"

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" Tony was still stuck in a tree, Natasha was running out from beneath him (where the hell from he didn't know), Hulk had just thrown Thor into a building, and some kind of explosion had rocked the city. He was pissed.

"Get under a light. No questions. Just do it- now."

"I'm a little stuc-"

"-then abandon the suit. MOVE!" So much black smoke was rolling off of Inessa Bucky could hardly see her. _The Shadow_, he thought back through everything- how long Hydra tried to turn her, how incredibly focused they were on keeping the lights on, the shadows in the hallway when he tried to escape with her, the humanoid nature of the shadow- _a piece was missing_. Like when he tried to rebuild the engine on his birthday. He'd been so focused on trying to make the engine work, he'd hardly given much attention to the nagging thought that something was missing, hadn't even bothered to try tracking it down. He'd just tried to force the pieces together to fill in the empty space.

Inessa kneeled next to Steve. He moaned and tried to push himself to his knees. She put a hand on his back. Steve turned to look at her and she closed her eyes.

It started at Bryant Park. Hydra fired into the crowd of rescuers, but they were steadily losing ground. Inessa clamped down on the mind of her wolf and unleashed the entire pack. She used her tie to the alpha to steer them, guide them away from the people and into the ranks of the black-clad soldiers. They washed through the densest concentration of Hydra's killers, into the shadows of the next building, and out again for a second pass.

The connection coupled with the strain of opening and closing the doors to the valley without passing through was sapping the strength she built up, and there was still more to do. When the wolves finished their pass, she took them instead to Washington square- where a far greater concentration of Hydra agents swarmed still. The Avengers were at the far end of the park, even a dusty and battered Thor and Tony- now outside of his metal suit. In the light, they were harder for the wolves to see, and so they went after the easiest targets- Hydra. The wolf she had accidentally unleashed in the area joined with the rest of the pack. Within seconds the tide of war there had turned as well.

Now for the hardest part. Hydra agents flooded the four streets that spread outwards from the senate house. They were gunning down people on the streets, planting explosives, starting fires. Four different places, spread out over miles, mixed with panicked people and Hydra agents. Inessa took a deep breath and called the pack back to her location. They ignored Steve, so close to the child of the Valley, and shot out down each of the four streets. Inessa cried out as her mind split further- she had to grasp onto three additional minds to steer the deadly wave. Again, she ignored individual soldiers and instead directed the wolves towards packs of Hydra's men.

_He stood up as soon as the magnetic lock on the chair released his metal arm. Dennisson stepped out of his way. He crossed to her, grabbed her by the throat, and pinned her against the wall. She struggled to breath. He put a single metal finger against her side and pushed until the bone broke. She screamed, but he didn't register it. He continued, breaking two more bones before he wrapped chains around her wrists and lifted her into the air. She could barely breathe through the pain._

A pack of wolves launched into the largest group they could find- humans. Inessa wrestled for control again and directed them away. Six people were bitten.

_Screaming, writhing, begging, crying. Everything felt cold and white-hot at the same time. Her throat was too raw to make much of a sound, but he continued anyways. She longed for the few moments of piece when they would ask her again- ask her what? She had to say no. If she said yes though, would it get worse? Or would it finally end?_

Another pack peeled off from the set course and flew through the walls of an apartment building nearby. As one wolf snapped it's jaws around a child she pulled back on it, dragged it away- the baby was unharmed.

_Beatings- blood- screaming- ripping- crunching- breaking- _Inessa began to convulse as she struggled to maintain control of the wolves against a tidal wave of memories. What she had managed with them already was enough to give the humans a chance to fight back the tide of Hydra in the streets. She seized up, Steve grabbed her and held her tight. Inessa slammed the doors to the Valley down around the wolves. The black smoke roiling from her vanished abruptly. She wasn't done yet- she still needed- still needed-

Inessa tumbled through Steve's arms into the shadows- followed the last thread, the one that was fading, drowning. The icy chill of the water drove all thought from her mind. She felt something- a hand? It found her, grabbed her arm tight. Inessa couldn't concentrate- the portal she opened was too large, and she pulled too much through.

A tidal wave of water smashed into Steve. He was slammed down under the force of it for only a few seconds before, abruptly, it stopped. Steve lifted his head and saw Sam lying nearby- Inessa's arm in his hand. Her eyes rolled up into her head and her body went limp.

* * *

Hearing the howling of the wolves in the streets galvanized Bucky. He forced his legs underneath him and pulled himself up. He heard Hulk's roar somewhere in the distance, raging at the shadows that tore through Hydra. He watched where Dennisson was trying to rise and waited, clenching and un-clenching his muscles to try and force life back into them. He kept his human hand on the base of the light. There was a sudden _clap_ of noise and a flood poured from the rubble. The shadows abruptly brightened as Inessa's control broke.

Bucky pushed himself forward, ran at Dennisson. He was no match for him at full strength, but the explosion had cost him just as much as Steve. Just as much as Bucky. Even though Dennisson was stronger now, Bucky had one distinct advantage- no matter how tired his body was or how beat up, he had one arm that couldn't lose strength. Dennisson turned and tried to shove Bucky away, but the Winter Soldier wrapped his metal fingers around Dennisson's throat and lifted him off the ground.

Slowly, so he could see the pain and, yes, even fear on Dennisson's face, Bucky tightened his grip. Steve wanted him captured. Bucky wanted him dead. Dennisson had made the call to bring in Inessa. He'd planned her capture, planned out every torture session, done everything to stop Bucky from saving her. He'd even allowed unspeakable acts by his guards. He didn't deserve life. He wanted her turned into a monster. _Fine then_, Dennisson's face was turning purple, but Bucky didn't stop slowly increasing the force in his hand, _if you want a monster, I'll be glad to step in on her behalf. _

Bucky tightened his grip abruptly and Dennisson's flesh and muscle were crushed in his fist. The skin tore, blood sprayed over his face, but he kept squeezing tighter and tighter until he was holding Dennison by the spinal cord. The man's eyes were wide, bulging, his body twitched and spasmed until, regrettably too soon, he was still.

Steve, horrified, could do nothing but watch from the other side of the square.


	41. Epilogue

From the roof of an adjacent apartment building Morris watched as Inessa routed Hydra's forces and Bucky quite literally crushed his enemy's throat. Dennisson had shown such promise. They could have used one with his talent, his ferocity. But that serum had ruined him, not improved him. The mission was over. Luckily it wasn't a complete failure.

"Brother," he turned away from the scene and walked back over the rooftop, speaking into a silver disk, "tell our _father_ Dennisson has failed," he paused and cast one lance glance into the square, where Captain America lifted the shadow-child's unconscious body, "but I may have found him a new child to replace his beloved Gamorah."

A second later, in a small pulse of light, Morris vanished.

* * *

**Four Days Later**

"I still don't think you should be out of bed," Natasha watched Clint closely as he wandered about the kitchen, making pancakes.

He pulled the sleeve of his t-shirt up to show off his shoulder, "Look! The Asgardian band fell off _yesterday_, the wound wasn't that bad!"

"Wasn't that bad?" she raised her eyes, "When that damn wolf dumped you at my feet, you were _covered_ in blood. I thought you'd _died_. The only reason you're alive is because you _accidentally_ wrapped that around your arm!"

Clint made a face, "Who said it was an accident? Who said I didn't intend for it to happen all along?"

Natasha rolled her eyes, "JARVIS says. We watched the security footage."

"JARVIS doctored the footage," he teased. "Look," his voice softened, "I'm fine. You got me back here, fixed me up. Between the Asgardian thing and Thor's healing stone, I'm alright. I promise. If you want someone to worry about, go fuss over Thor or Sam or Bucky, they took more hits that night than I did."

She sighed, "They were given a clean bill last night."

"See? Thor's healing stone fixed _them_ and Bucky's fixed _us_. Everything's OK, Nat. No more worrying about the dark, no more Hydra agents in the city, no more Dennisson- you can take a breath. The fight's over. We won."

Natasha shook her head, "Then why do I get the feeling there's still something coming?"

"Because we're super-spies," he kissed her cheek and turned to flip the pancake, "something's always coming. The trick is to appreciate the calm between the storms. Now- go. You've been cooped up in here with me and Inessa for days. Give yourself a break, I'll take care of her, you take care of prying Bucky away from those Project Echo files. He's not going to find out who she is in there."

"Fine," Natasha grabbed some fresh fruit and yogurt from the fridge. She'd grab Bucky on the way down to the gym so he didn't have time to back out of it.

* * *

"Hi, how are you today?" Clint sat down on the floor next to Inessa with two plates of pancakes on a breakfast tray. She was in the darkest corner of her room, and her wolf's head was on her lap, sleeping. Literally- just the head. The body was a shadow that extended up the wall behind her- massive and formless. It opened an eye lazily as he sat down. He held out a pancake to it carefully, mindful of Inessa. If he kept his movements slow and deliberate she didn't flinch away- though she still wouldn't make eye contact either. Bucky swore that she'd spoken to him when she arrived at the fight, but no one else saw her give even an indication she understood what they said. Ever since she'd woken up in the infirmary she'd been half-hidden in shadow, and that wolf was never far.

The wolf sniffed the pancake, then snapped it out of his hand and ate it in one bite. There was a thumping from the shadows behind her- the tail wagging. Clint held out a plate to Inessa. The wolf leaned forward to sniff and he pulled them away, "No, no. These are for your momma," the wolf put it's head back down and Clint set the plate on the ground in front of her. He stuck a fork in the center and waited. Inessa's eyes eventually darted from her plate to his, but she wouldn't meet his eyes, "I'm not eating until you do." he pointed at her plate. "Come on," he prodded,"you've got to be hungry. You haven't eaten since- I mean, your_ body_ hasn't had food since before the battle with Dennisson, when was the last time _you_ had food? Five years ago? That's got to be a world record."

He was rambling, but it was an intentional ramble. He wanted to acclimate her to being around actual people again, even noisy ones. Every Avenger save Bucky (who religiously avoided allowing her to see him) had sat with her at some point now, but she simply cowered. If they pushed too hard she'd vanish into a shadow and not reappear for hours. Natasha worried (as they all did) that she wouldn't come back. Last time she'd disappeared she had gotten lost (the dominant theory, they doubted it was intentional) and reappeared in the hospital wing where Tony was delivering syringes of the vaccine to people bitten at the end of the battle.

Clint was positive, though, that he could make real progress with her. She hadn't seen him since she pulled him into the Valley to keep him safe. He smiled and waited- even licked his lips and stared at his own plate to exaggerate how hungry _he_ was, thinking it might encourage her. Inessa slowly reached out and took the fork. She held the wolf with one hand as if the terrifying beast was some kind of safety blanket. With the other she used the fork to pull a small piece away from one pancake. Haltingly, she brought the fork to her mouth and took a bite. Clint smiled and cut his own stack. He made a show of taking the largest bite he could (and nearly choked in the process). It took more prodding on his part, but eventually both plates were clean.

"Do you understand me when I speak?" he asked slowly, encouraged.

Inessa hesitated, then nodded softly.

"Would you like to try speaking too? I bet you have a lovely voice." She shook her head several times and began breathing hard, "It's OK," Clint prompted quickly, "Just tell me your name." Inessa started hyperventilating and rocked back and forth where she sat. She shook her head quickly for several seconds until Clint grabbed her shoulders gently to stop her, "Alright, alright," he let go once she stopped moving. She was trembling slightly and blinking too quickly, "You don't have to speak."

He thought for a second, "Can I teach you something? Is that OK?" Inessa didn't respond either way, she just pet the wolf's head and stared at the floor. Clint wasn't deterred, "When I was a bit younger than you, I lost my hearing. I couldn't talk normally for a long time. Instead of using my voice, I had to use my hands. Would you like to learn? That way you can still communicate without your voice. How does that sound?"

Inessa thought for a while, then risked a peek at Clint's face. She looked away quickly and nodded. He smiled, "Alright then. Let's start with the alphabet-" he held out an open hand and curled it into a fist slowly, "This is an 'A', can you give it a try?"

Over the next half hour he went over each letter slowly and patiently. He made sure she held her hand the right way, and very carefully corrected her if she made a mistake. She was completely focused on what he was doing, and more and more she'd glance up at his face. Once he was certain she had every letter memorized he asked her again, "Do you want to tell me your name?"

She signed slowly, hesitantly, _I-N-E-S-S-A. _When she glanced at him, Clint smiled, "Inessa. Yes, that's very good. You know, Natasha, the nice lady, she picked out that name for you because we didn't know _what_ to call you. Do you remember what your name was _before_ Inessa though?"

A darkness flickered in her eyes. She looked tired, sad, _E-C-H-O._

"That was never your name," Clint assured her, his voice growing hard, "never. That was something a bad man tried to turn you into, but you were very brave. You didn't let him."

Inessa thought, but she couldn't remember. It was just beyond her grasp. She had to look at too many horrible things to see that far back. Clint turned and picked up a tablet, "Can I show you something?" it was risky, but it might help. She nodded. He turned it on and pressed play- the very first of the Project Echo videos, before they turned the room into a torture chamber. As soon as it began to play, Inessa covered her ears and whimpered. The wolf flattened it's own and growled. For a second he was confused, but then he picked up on it- the soft screech from his hearing aids that signaled the frequency Hydra had embedded in the lights. Clint turned the sound all the way off, and the wolf recovered. Inessa didn't bring her hands down, however. "Do you remember this?" she glanced at the screen and seemed instantly transfixed by the video, lost in it, "What was your name when this happened?"

Slowly, she lowered her hands. Clint turned the tablet back off, before Dennisson entered with Bucky, and waited. She signed even slower than before as if she wasn't certain of the answer, _N-A-D-Y-A._ He smiled and let out the breath he'd been holding, "Nadya? Do you know what that means? It means _hope_. Was that your name?" she nodded slowly, "Nadya what?"

_R-Y-K-E-R_.

Ice filled Clint's veins. He stopped breathing for a moment. He locked his jaw and ground his teeth.

_"We know something was made or summoned when the project exploded," he'd prompted, "Do you know what it was?"_

_"No shit."_

Clint took a deep, hard breath.

_"What. Was. Her. Name?"_

_"I called her... Little... Bitch..."_

Inessa was inching back from Clint, scared. He had his hands in such tight fists he could feel his nails cutting into his palms.

_"Where did you find her? Here in Chicago?"_

_"I got her far, far away, yup yup. The whole other side of the world."_

It didn't matter where she grew up, Clint had asked where he _found_ her. The other side of the world. Astana. Kazakhstan.

He managed to speak again through gritted teeth, "Do you know someone named Dimitri Aristov?" he tried to force his expression into a more neutral one, but he could tell from the way she cowered he was failing. When she signed back, her hands were shaking so badly she could barely form the letters.

_U-N-C-L-E_.

Everything went suddenly still for Clint. He smiled, relaxed, and picked up the plates, "Just a second," when he got up he left the tablet behind. Natasha was filling water bottles in the kitchen, ready to go.

"How is it going with Inessa?" Clint set the dishes down very softly, only a slight tremor in his hands. He leaned against the counter. The tremor turned into a shake. Natasha stopped what she was doing, "What's wrong?"

"Not... Inessa..." Clint suddenly lashed out and slammed his fist into the wall. He felt two bones break and put a nice hole in the new drywall. It did not help ease the rage that burned white-hot through him, "Nadya. Ryker."

Natasha had jumped back when he punched the wall. She stayed focused on him as she pulled his hand back and grabbed a towel to wrap quickly around his fist to stem the blood already dripping, "Ryker? As in-"

"His niece. He sold his own fucking niece to Hydra." a vein in Clint's forehead was sticking out and his nose twitched involuntarily into a snarl. "I'm going to hunt him down and I'm going to rip out his throat, I swear to God."

"Come on," Natasha steered him to the door, "let's get your hand looked at, then we'll talk about this," she wished she was still KGB, briefly. Back then she had the freedom to kill, no consequences so long as she said it was for a mission. But now she had to be the voice of reason. Only for a little while, she hoped. When Steve returned from his meeting with the mayor she'd fill him in then he could have his buddies at SHIELD pick the scumbag up, "Ripping out his throat is faster than he deserves." She glanced in Inessa's room as she walked out and tried to smile to the girl, but she had her face buried in the wolf's neck, hiding.

* * *

Bucky watched from his tablet, from the feed Natasha and Clint had allowed him back when they first found Inessa- Nadya. There was no audio, but he'd seen Clint's little lesson, and he'd seen her response. Bucky picked up the personnel list from Project Echo amidst the papers that were strewn over his bed. He too had been trying to find some clue as to the girl's identity. Uncle. Nikolai Ryker, that had to be him. Which made Nadya Emilie and Anton's daughter. He picked up another sheet of paper, the personnel record. It had a list of formal and informal addresses for him under the name Dimitri Aristov, the last known being in an abandoned school in Chicago.

He had contacts of his own, lower level Hydra agents who probably didn't know yet that the Winter Soldier had left their ranks. Bucky pulled a jacket from his closet. "JARVIS" he asked, "Can I get a car? One _without_ GPS?"

"I shall have a valet prepare one." the A.I. promised, "May I inquire as to your destination?"

"I'm just going to drive," _until I hit Chicago_. Clint was a nice guy- apple pie and a smart-ass mouth, just like Bucky had been, once upon a time. But _once upon a time_ was a long time ago. Hydra had taken that nice guy and made him into a weapon- a gun pointed at the heads of their enemies. Killing Dennisson- doing to him what he'd tried so hard to do to Inessa- that felt better than he was _allowed_ to admit. Just like how they wouldn't _allow_ him to go after Inessa's uncle. Steve wouldn't talk to Bucky about what happened, but Bucky could read his face just as well as ever. Steve saw what he did in that square as something brutal, evil maybe. He'd have Dimitri brought in, locked up in some nice, cozy cell. His niece hadn't been that lucky. Yes, taking Dimitri off the face of the Earth may qualify as _evil_, but it was a necessary one. A favor to the world.

"How long shall you be gone?"

"Maybe a week," Bucky didn't bother packing. He simply pulled the signal jammer from his pocket- the one Tony had taken to study, the one he'd stolen back in case something like this came up- and looked at it a moment, then slammed it into the side of his head. He choked back a scream as the blades pierced his skull. He tapped his comm to open it- nothing. Bucky took one last, steadying breath, then walked out of his room and through the Tower proper.

It was hours before anyone knew he was missing.


	42. Project Echo- PART 1: The Playlist

When I began writing, I chose one song for each character that represented their mental state or their personality in some way. When writing each chapter, I threw the songs for those characters into a playlist so I'd keep their personalities consistent while I typed.

Here's the playlist, if you'd like to check it out! I'll be doing this for each Part, either upon completion or at the beginning.

The Shadow- "Main Title (Theme from 'Jaws')"- John Williams

Bucky- "Thief"- Imagine Dragons

Clint- "Men in Tights"- Robin Hood: Men in Tights

Morris- "Enter Sandman"- Metallica

Tony- "Adventure Awaits/A Heroes Journey"- Galavant Soundtrack

Inessa- White noise from an old VCR (I didn't actually put this in any playlist)

Thor- "Secret Mission"- Galavant Soundtrack (I have no idea why this makes me think of him, originally it was Tony's song)

Dennisson- "My Bloody Valentine"- Good Charlotte

Steve- "The Weight of Living: Part 2" - Bastille

Banner- "Oceano"- Josh Groban

Natasha- "Inama Nushif"- Children of Dune soundtrack

Sam- "Thriller"- Michael Jackson

Hulk- "Dovahkiin/Song of the Dragonborn"- Skyrim Soundtrack


End file.
